A listless India slumped to a heart-breaking 1-0 defeat to host Malaysia in its last league match as it failed to reach the final of Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament for the second consecutive year.
Needing to win by a two-goal margin to make the final after Great Britain had edged past New Zealand 3-2 earlier in the day, India failed to produce a cohesive game and suffered its second loss of the tournament.
Finishing with seven points from five matches, India will play New Zealand On Saturday in the play-off for the bronze medal, while the title encounter will be between defending champion Australia and Great Britain.
An Indian victory by two goals would have pushed Great Britain to the bronze medal game, but Malaysia turned the tables on India which gave a disjointed exhibition of hockey.
Stunning upset
In the day of the underdogs, World No. 16 Japan pulled off a most stunning upset with a 3-2 victory over reigning world champion Australia, which still remained on course to defend its title by topping the standings roster due to its superior goal difference.
Despite knowing what was expected from them, India failed to make an impression on the Malaysian defence.
After a listless first quarter, India managed to earn three penalty corners in the next 15 minutes, but Malaysian goalkeeper Subramaniam Kumar effected two diving deflections.
India showed more purpose in the second half, but its attack was not cohesive and the strikers turned out to be error-prone.
India’s desperation was evident at the start of the last quarter when it took off the goalkeeper and made Harmanpreet Singh the kicker-back.
The goalkeeper was back within a minute when Manpreet Singh was sent off with a green card. But as Manpreet came back in the 47th minute, so did the kicker-back come in.
Having an extra player added just a little bit of thrust to the Indian effort, but it was Malaysia that opened the scoring in the 50th minute with a penalty corner conversion through Shahril Saabah’s measured drag-flick .
