Ipoh (Malaysia): India’s hopes of qualifying for the final of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament went up in smoke after they crashed to their third defeat in the event, losing 0-2 to defending champions New Zealand in their must-win penultimate round-robin match here on Thursday.
Five-time champions India needed a victory to stay in the competition, but, instead, it was the Black Sticks who scored two second half goals to keep their flag flying in the tournament.
New Zealand struck through Andy Hayward from their second penalty corner in the 40th minute before Cory Bennett took the match out of India’s reach, scoring the team’s second goal in the 55th minute.
Despite the 3-3 draw against Korea earlier in the day, six-time champions Australia are still atop the leaderboard with eight points from four games, followed by hosts Malaysia (seven points) and New Zealand (six), who have leapfrogged to third spot by virtue of the win over India.
Korea have four points from as many games just ahead of India (three).
Pakistan drew 2-2 with Malaysia in a match they needed to win and are thus out of the tournament too.
New Zealand are the only other team in the race for a place in Sunday’s final.
To seal their final berth, New Zealand need to beat Australia in the Trans-Trasman clash on Saturday.
For both Australia and Malaysia, a draw in their final round-robin games will be enough to seal their place in the final. The hosts will be up against India on Saturday.
Having won only one match (against Pakistan) out of four, India are out of the reckoning. India had earlier lost to Australia and Korea in their opening two games.
India’s coach Michael Nobbs said his wards were just not upto the mark.
“We did not even play 50 per cent of the way we played against Pakistan,” Nobbs said. (PTI)