Thaindian News

By Avishek Roy
New Delhi, March 12 (IANS) India went down 2-4 to Argentina to finish eighth while Spain took the fifth place getting past Korea 2-0 in classification matches of the Hockey World Cup here Friday.

The victory against Asian Champions Korea handed Olympic silver medallists Spain a direct entry to the Champions Trophy later this year.

New Zealand took the ninth spot after a thrilling 5-4 victory in sudden death over South Africa at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium here.

India failed to make their chances count and would be disappointed with their loss to Argentina as they dominated the first half but with no success.

It was Argentina who opened the scoring through Tomas Innocente Argento (28th minute) to go 1-0 up in the first half.

India scored the equaliser through Sandeep Singh’s (42nd) penalty stroke before Argentina’s three-goal burst in three minutes took the game away from the hosts.

Lucas Martin Vila (43rd, 45th) first converted a penalty corner and then scored a field goal. Facundo Callioni (46th) joined the party to make it 4-1 for Argentina.

Shivendra Singh (49th) pulled one back but it was too little and too late.

Argentina thus maintained their superior record against India in the World Cup. They have now beaten India five times in eight meetings.

India had finished 11th in the previous World Cup at Monchengladbach and they improved their position by three rungs, but would be disappointed as they had hoped for a far better finish at home. The only win for the hosts came in their opening match against arch-rivals Pakistan.

Nevertheless, it was India’s best finish in 16 years. India came fifth in 1982 and 1994, and have only slipped thereafter. They finished ninth in 1998 and 10th in 2002.

In the play-off for the fifth-sixth place, Pablo Amat struck a brace in the first session. The Koreans tried to come back in the second half, but the Spanish defence proved too strong.

In the thriller between New Zealand and South Africa, the two teams finished 4-4 at the end of the regulation time and were 4-4 in the shootout.

In the sudden death, New Zealand goalkeeper Kyle Pontifex, who has been in good form in the tournament, stopped Lloyd Madsen’s strike. Black Sticks captain Dean Couzins then scored from the spot to give his side victory.