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India fight back to set up Australia final

Written By Unknown on Sabtu, 02 Agustus 2014 | 22.58

GLASGOW: India will face Australia in a repeat of the Commonwealth Games men's hockey final from four years ago in Delhi after producing a stunning comeback from 2-0 down to beat New Zealand 3-2 on Saturday.

Earlier, Australia had secured their place in a fifth successive Games final with a 4-1 rout over England.

New Zealand had won all four of their matches in the pool stages and looked well on course for the final thanks to early goals from Simon Chile and Nick Haig.

However, India rallied just before half-time with a penalty stroke being awarded when the ball had been illegally blocked on the New Zealand line from a penalty corner and captain for the day Rupindeer Singh slotted home.

And the game was turned on its head during a five minute spell early in the second-half as Ramandeep Singh skillfully flicked home a low cross before Akashdeep Singh blasted high into the roof of the net to give India a deserved victory.

They face an even tougher task on Sunday, though, in the form of world and Commonwealth champions Australia, who have already beaten India 4-2 during the group stages.

In the pouring rain it was England who were caught cold after just two minutes as Tristan White gave Australia the perfect start from a penalty corner before Simon Orchard doubled their lead just eight minutes later.

"We expected a very tough game against a very strong opponent, but our boys did really well today," said Australia coach Graham Reid.

"Scoring a goal with two minutes gone in the match is something we dream about. We always try to create opportunities for to make that happen."

Harry Martin briefly gave England hope when he bundled home from close range on 52 minutes to half the deficit.

However, England never looked like levelling and Australia rounded off their victory with two more goals in the final 10 minutes as Chris Ciriello fired a penalty corner low into the net before Eddie Ockenden had the simple task of finishing into an open goal.

"We're very disappointed. We thought we could win but we weren't quite there today," said England coach Bobby Crutchley.

"We didn't create a lot and they made it quite difficult for us." England do, though, at least have the chance to secure a medal in the bronze medal match on Sunday.

"We don't want to leave here with nothing," added Crutchley. "We want that bronze medal tomorrow."

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CWG: Kashyap through to singles final

GLASGOW: Parupalli Kashyap stood just one win away from winning a historic gold after notching up an energy-sapping three-game victory over England's Rajiv Ouseph but PV Sindhu suffered a heart-breaking loss in women's semifinal of the 20th Commonwealth Games here on Saturday.

World No. 22 Kashyap played out of his skin to avenge his loss to Ouseph, who had beaten him at the 2010 Delhi Games and also dumped him during the mixed team event at the Emirates Arena here.

In a gruelling one hour and 23 minute match, Kashyap bounced back from a game down to edge out World No. 26 Ouseph 18-21, 21-17, 21-18 and assure himself of at least a silver medal.

Kashyap will next take on the winner of the match between India's RMV Gurusaidutt and World No. 40 Derek Wong of Singapore in the summit clash tomorrow.

However, Sindhu, who is playing her first Commonwealth Games, could not go the distance in women's singles as she went down fighting to Michelle Li of Canada 22-20, 22-20 in the last-four encounter.

This is her second defeat to Li at the Emirates Arena. Sindhu had lost to the Hong Kong-born shuttler during the Mixed team event.

The Hyderabad girl will meet the winner of Malaysia's Jing Yi Tee and Scotland's Kirsty Gilmour in the bronze medal contest.

For Delhi Games bronze medallist, Kashyap, it turned out to be a memorable day as he conjured up hopes of seeing an Indian male badminton player winning a gold medal for the first time in 32 years.

Prakash Padukone had won the men's singles gold medal at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, Canada, which India retained through Syed Modi four years later.

It was a battle of attrition between Kashyap,27, and Ouseph as both the shuttlers engaged themselves in long energy-sapping rallies, with the longest going on for 72 minutes in the decider, which had a total of 71 strokes.

It was, however, heartbreak for India in the women's singles with top seed Sindhu suffering a shock defeat to Chinese-origin Canadian Michelle in a fiercely fought semifinal match, which she lost 20-22, 20-22 in 54 minutes.

The Indian made a bad start and then apparently lost concentration towards the end of the second game after taking a decent lead to lose the match.

Sindhu also had to endure a debatable line call in the first game, which the Indian protested to the umpire vehemently.

World number 11 Sindhu made a bad start as she trailed 3-8 and had to work hard to come back and tie the score at 8-8. But the world number 20 Canadian was a tough nut to crack as she matched her higher-ranked Indian opponent stroke for stroke.

It was a neck-and-neck battle in the first game and none of the two shuttlers could take a two-point lead. At 15-15, Michelle came up with a beautiful smash to take the lead but Sindhu replied immediately with another smash to tie the score again.

Sindhu was ahead at 18-17 but she made her long return to allow her opponent to tie the score. The Indian took 19-18 lead but she failed to close out the game and allowed her opponent to take the next two points.

Sindhu could save one game point to take it to the deuce but the Canadian won two straight points to go 1-0 up in the match.

In the second game, Sidhu took an early lead and she was 8-4 ahead and then 12-8 but from there she lost her way with the Chinese incessantly retrieving the shuttle while also making some fine smashes.

Sindhu was still in command at 18-15 but she could not close out the second game and lost three straight points, resulting to 19-19 score. The Indian was the first to reach the game point but the Canadian kept his nerves at a crucial juncture and took the second game to the deuce before taking another two straight points to win the match.

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Paes, Sania to lead Indian challenge

NEW DELHI: Indian selectors reposed faith in Leander Paes as the 40-year-old veteran was on Saturday included in the Asian Games squad along with established stars Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna.

The selection committee announced a 12-member team, which also has last edition's gold medal winners Somdev Devvarman and Sanam Singh. Somdev had won the men's singles gold as well as the men's doubles gold with Sanam.

Tall and big-serving Saketh Myneni and Yuki Bhambri will make their debut at the prestigious quadrennial event, to be held in Incheon, Korea from September 19-October 4.

It will be interesting to see with whom Paes is paired since Bopanna and Myneni of late have played Davis Cup ties together and Somdev and Sanam are the defending champions.

National Selection Committee chairman Anil Dhupar defended Paes' selection in the team.

"He is the biggest Indian star. He performing very well at the Grand Slams, so he had to be in the team. Last time there were reasons for him not to play," Dhupar said.

Asked with whom Paes will team up, Dhupar said captain Anand Amritraj will decide on the pairings.

Asked if youngsters such as Ramkumar Ramanathan and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan were considered, Dhupar said, "We are encouraging young players that is why we have chosen Saketh in the team."

Ramkumar had recently made two back-to-back ITF singles finals in Spain and won one title.

Paes had missed out on the 2010 Guangzhou Games along with Bopanna and Mahesh Bhupathi.

In the women's side, country's leading player Sania will spearhead the challenge along with singles number one Ankita Raina. Sania had won a singles bronze and mixed doubles silver with Vishnu Vardhan.

Prarthana Thombare, Snehadevi Reddy, Natasha Palha and Rishika Sunkara are the other players in the squad.

There are two reserves in the side, left-handed Divij Sharan in men's squad and diminutive Shweta Rana in the women's.

Sania's mother Nasima Mirza will captain the women's squad while Leander's father, Vece Paes is team doctor. The team will have two trainers in Anand Kumar and Dharmendar Pratap Singh.

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