Sports

KUALA LUMPUR, Arjun Halappas twin first half strikes lifted India to a victory over fighting Malaysia for a final meeting against Korea as well as an automatic qualifying spot for next years Junior World Cup mens hockey championship. India, runnersup in the Milton Keynes Junior World Cup, shot into a lead before the plucky Malaysians pulled off a goal seconds from the final hooter in the well fought second semifinal at the Bukit Jalil Stadium here today. South Korea outplayed Japan in the first semifinal to also book their berth for the championship to be held at Hobart, Australia next year.
Lee Jung Seon, Kim Joung Goo and Yoon Sung Hoon scored for Korea after Watanabe Yusuke put Japan ahead with a stunning first minute strike. Malaysia and Japan will meet to decide the third qualifying spot for the World Cup. India applied early pressure by forcing penalty corners in the sixth, seventh and eighth minutes as Malaysians seemed to wilt under the pressure of playing in front of a packed home crowd. In the minute, after the midfield had somewhat settled down, Deepak Thakur sped into the circle and saw his hit rebound off the goalkeepers pads. But Halappa, who had followed him, picked up the ball and smartly tapped it in to put India into lead. increased the lead in the minute when Gagan Ajit Singh, who was just trying to settle in, dribbled in and unleashed a shot and the Malaysian goalkeeper Kumar Subramanium squatted on the ball.
The umpire pointed to the spot to the delight of the Indian players and Arjun Halappa converted the stroke for his and Indias second goal. Just when it looked that India would dominate the proceedings, the defence started blundering with first Bimal Lakra delaying a clearance letting Malaysia earn a penalty corner. The hosts earned three consecutive penalty corners with one coming with only five seconds left in the first half. But goalkeeper Devesh Chauhan did well to charge out each time the Malaysian flicks to let India stay ahead at the break.
In an evenly balanced second half, Malaysia tried to break through but the Indian tactics of packing the midfield paid off. India had two forwards Deepak Thakur and Gagan Ajit Singh continuously prodding the Malaysian defence earning a couple of chances. The hosts goalkeeper, after an indifferent first half, did a good job at keeping the Indians away. Malaysia earned six penalty corners in the last minutes of the game, but Devesh Chauhan did the job well to keep the rivals at bay. Malaysia, finally, scored with seconds to go when Chua gave the ball to Keevan who deflected it past Devesh.