Hockey Update: Malaysia qualifies for final of 16th Asiad
Malaysia in a stunning move has smashed the dreams of former world champions and silver medallist of recent Commonwealth Games, India by beating them 4-3 in the second semi-final of 16th Asian Games hockey event at Aoti Centre, Guangzhou on November 23,
2010.
The golden goal of Amin Rahim changed the history of Malaysian hockey as they qualified for the first ever men’s hockey final in Asiad since 1958. The first maiden appearance of Malaysia in the final of Asian Games cracked the hex of defeats from India.
It is pertinent to mention here that Indian hockey team overpowered Malaysia in last ten Asian Games.
Amin Rahim, the excellent performer of second semi-final marked a pair of goals in short time of ten minutes and confirmed a berth in the final of the tournament. He scored first goal in the 67th minute while the second and golden goal in the
75th minute of the match.
India was unbeaten in the league matches; however could not fulfil the expectations of Indian hockey fans against hard worker and devoted Malaysia, which displayed better game in the field.
The game was played in fast pace but duo squads failed to mark a goal in first 30 minutes of the match. Interestingly the winner Malaysia scored opening and concluding goals of the game.
Malaysia displayed superior ball control in the first half and their hard slog delivered results in the 32nd minute of the match. Ahmed Tengku Abdul Jalil while breaking the impasse marked first goal of the game and put Malaysia ahead with one
goal lead.
Withal, the lead lasted for short span of time as best drag flicker of Indian squad, Sandeep Singh levelled the score by converting a penalty corner in the 40th minute and tied the game at 1-1.
Indian players after changing the sides in second half showed completely different look. Tushar Khankar, the Indian striker scored a field goal in the 37th minute of the match and took the game under control.
Later on Malaysian attacker, Azlan Misron converted another penalty corner into successful goal and equalled the score in 49th minute of the match.
The flicking hit of Dhananjay Mahadik was blocked by Malaysian goal keeper, Kumar Subramiam; however later on Indian skipper, Rajpal Singh succeeded to mark a goal and upped the lead of his team.
However, it was not the day of India as opponent’s Malaysia got another short corner in the last minutes of the match, which was successfully converted by Amin Rahim in the 67th minute of the match. The score line at 3-3 set the match for an exciting ending
with duo squads pressing for the decisive attacks.
One minute into the regulation time, India received a fourth penalty corner of the match; however, they missed a golden chance to seal the triumph for India.
Since the match was tied at 3-3 after the regulation time, the squads went into extra-time. The Indian squad seemed under pressure in the extra-time and could not produce any breakthrough in the game.
The turning point of the match came when Malaysia got another penalty corner in the 75th minute of the match and they duly took the advantage. Amin Rahim scored a golden goal of the match and carried Malaysia in final of the 16th Asian Games.
Goals on short corners changed the results of second semi-final as Malaysia converted three out of four short corners, while opponent India missed two chances out of four penalty corners they earned in the game.
The final between Malaysia and former super star of Asian hockey, Pakistan will be played on Thursday, November 25, 2010 at Aoti Hockey Centre, China. The final game of the event will be more crucial as the winner will get direct access to 2012 London Olympics.
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