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Ipoh (Malaysia), Striker Mandeep Singh scored a brilliant hat-trick to hand India a fighting 4-3 victory over lower-ranked Japan in a round robin match of the 26th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament here today.
Having squandered the early lead provided by a penalty corner conversion from Rupinderpal Singh, India were trailing when Mandeep got into his goal-scoring act in the second half.
It needed two goals from Mandeep in the last 10 minutes to help India avoid a stunning loss.
Neutralising India’s early lead through Kazuma Murata’s fine deflection in the 10th minute, Japan led twice in the game.
Heita Yoshihara (43rd) gave Japan the lead against the run of play.
Two minutes later, Mandeep poked at the ball ahead of his marker to deflect in Harmanpreet Singh’s long ball.
However, with seconds left for the third quarter to end, Genki Mitani scored after confusion in the Indian circle.
India took some time to find their rhythm in the last quarter. In the 51st minute, Mandeep tapped in a square ball from Sardar Singh. As India struggled to break Japan’s resolute defence, the game looked set to end as a draw, jeopardising India’s chances of qualifying for the final. However, with only two minutes to go, Mandeep popped up again to ensure three points for India with a brilliant goal. He received the ball near the penalty spot before making a quick turn and firing into the corner.
Mandeep’s hat-trick took him to the top of the goal-scorers’ list with five goals.
The win gave India a chance of making their second successive final.
Australia beat Britain
Defending champions Australia stepped closer to their 13th final appearance with a 2-1 victory over Great Britain.
Australia scored through Trent Mitton and Matt Dawson while Britain found the only goal through Mark Glenhorne. In the last match of the day, New Zealand beat Malaysia 1-0 to end the hosts’ hopes of making the third-place playoff match.
