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India lose to Canada

A disjointed India suffered its second successive defeat in the four-nation Australia Cup hockey tournament yesterday, going down to Canada 1-2.

Andrew Griffith and Peter Milkovich scored a goal each for Canada, while Samir Dad reduced the margin for the Indians.

Canada, who had beaten India in the World Cup, took the lead in the eight minute, with Griffith scoring off a penalty-corner rebound after a shot by Canadian captain Milkovich rebounded off goalkeeper Jude Menezes's pads.

The winners led 1-0 at half -time.

India drew parity in the 19th minute of the second half from a lightning offensive, with a brilliant copy book goal. Baljit Singh Dhillon, took the ball from the middle to the left of the circle and passed to Dad, who deflected it past Canadian goalkeeper Hari Kant.

For the Asian Games champions, it was a day of unforced errors. While the players kept possession and outplayed their rivals with good stick work and precise short passes, they often lost the ball through faulty distribution.

Canada's coach Shiaz Virjee said, ''India played much better today than yesterday against Korea. They made us work for the victory."

India's coach V Baskaran said: ''We made two changes in the midfield and that made a difference. The boys played with a lot of strength and the forwards definitely had a lot of say in today 's good performance. We struggled in the last five minutes of the first and second half. The boys didn't keep the ball when we had the ball win us.''

Baljit Singh Chandi had a nightmare of a game, unable to get a touch on to direct passes and was robbed of possession on several occasions.

India can take heart from the performance of its defence, where Dilip Tirkey, Thirumalavan and goalkeeper Jude Menezes were focussed and precise.

Both sides had set play opportunities to score in the first half. Canada had three penalty-corners but the strikes at goal lacked fire power or went wide.

India's sole penalty-corner in the first half was hit along the ground and did not challenge Canada's Robin D'Abreo, who cleared the ball from the line.

In the other match of the day, Australia and South Korea played a goalless draw. Australia, playing with an experimental side, have not scored a goal from the two matches they have played.

Today is a rest day. On Sunday, India play Australia and Canada play Korea in the match to decide the winner of the tournament.

UNI