Ipoh (Malaysia), 09 April 2015: Playing their fourth match of the tournament, India clashed against Canada wherein they claimed a convincing win of 5-3 over the opponents during the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2015 in Ipoh, Malaysia. The last quarter of the game proved to be an action packed session as it rained goals for both the teams.
The first quarter saw valuable efforts from both the teams as they produced a neck-to-neck fight as they aimed at ball possession and did not give away any chance to each other to score. While India was seen embarking on scoring opportunities from the onset, Canada earned two penalty corners but failed to capitalize it. Retaliating Canada's attempts to score, India made full use of the awarded penalty corner through Rupinder Pal Singh and convert it in the 13th minute of the game. By the end of the first quarter, India took the lead 1-0.
While the Indian team looked to maintain an upper hand over Canada in the second quarter, Canada was seen relying highly on counter attacks. Continuing to make some swift moves, India earned its fourth penalty corner but it went in vain as they failed to convert as Rupinder Pal Singh hit the ball high above the net. As Canada was trailing by a goal and stood unsuccessful in opening their account in the first half of the game, the score board read 1-0 in favour of India.
With the change of sides, India continued to show a spirited performance and continued to assert pressure on the opponents. With just two minutes into the third quarter, VR Raghunath successfully converted a penalty corner and scored in the 32nd minute to double the lead 2-0. India was by far the dominant on the defensive side. As Canada made desperate efforts to open their score card, Oliver Scholfield scored the opening goal for his team in the 43rd minute and took the score to 2-1.
The last quarter was a decisive phase, where both the teams continued to put constant pressure on each other. Within a minute, India advanced the lead to 4-1 as Ramandeep Singh scored a brace in the 46th and 47th minute. Giving very less time for the Indian team to relax, Canada bounced back in action and converted a penalty corner through Jagdish Gill in the 49th minute. Without leaving any scope for mistakes, India's Satbir Singh scored a field goal in the 49th minute itself and escalated the scores to 5-2. Canada added another goal to their tally as David Jameson made no mistake in netting the ball to score the third goal for Canada. With both the teams unable to add any further goals, India declared a comfortable win over Canada 5-3.
India will play its next match against Australia on 11th April 2015 at 1340 IST.
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