Jasjit Singh sent two rasping penalty corner drag flicks into the net as India edged past Malaysia 3-2 to move to the semifinals of the Hockey World League on Wednesday.
India was lifted by the two successive penalty corner conversions from Jasjit in the 48th and 55th minutes to avenge its loss to the Malaysians by a similar margin in the Azlan Shah Cup two months ago.
Sardar Singh’s team took the initial lead through a field goal by Satbir Singh in the third minute.
But Malaysia shot back through two penalty corner conversions by captain Razie Rahim (15th minute) and Shahril Saabah (23rd) to seize the advantage. The fast-paced encounter was played with the temperature on the pitch crossing 40 degrees Celsius. Pakistan shocked
Earlier, Great Britain defeated Pakistan 2-1 in the quarterfinals to set up a meeting with World champions Australia, which outplayed Ireland 4-1 to enter the semifinals.
All quarterfinal winners secured a spot in the World League Finals, to be played in India later this year.
Against Malaysia, India surged ahead in the third minute. Akashdeep Singh did the spadework for the goal by darting into the circle from the right flank, sent a crisp cross that beat and Satbir swept the ball into the boards.
Malaysia forced four penalty corners in the first half, two of which breached the Indian defence.
Malaysian captain Rahim equalised with a grounder penalty corner drive that ended in the left corner of the goal. Malaysia went ahead on the second penalty corner goal, this time shot by Shahril Saabah.
India forced two penalty corners late in the first half, but failed to score. The first shot by Birendra Lakra went into the net, but was ruled high. India’s 2-2 equaliser came when Malaysia was down to 10 players owning to a green card infringement by Tengku Ahmed.Jasjit restored parity in the 48th minute by sending in a rising drag-flick into the net for the first of his two successive penalty corner goals.
At the other end, Sreejesh stood between the Malaysian strikers on two raids before Jasjit placed another of his rasping drag-flicks just under the cross-bar for the match-winner.
In a last-ditch effort, Malaysia took off its goalkeeper to put in an additional striker with two minutes remaining, but could not manage to bounce back into the game.
The results: India 3 (Satbir Singh 3, Jasjit Singh 48, 55) bt Malaysia 2 (Razie Rahim 15, Shahril Saabah, 23).
Great Britain 2 bt Pakistan 1; Australia bt Ireland 4-1.
