Pakistan’s Rehan Butt (left) is tackled by India’s Viren Rasquinha in Madrid on Saturday. (AFP)

Madrid: Sohail Abbas continues to be India’s nemesis. Pakistan’s penalty corner expert converted all four that came his side’s way on Saturday to set up a 5-3 win in a pool B match of the men’s Olympic hockey qualifying meet.

The defeat, following a draw against Belgium and a hard-earned win against Malaysia, has put India under severe pressure. The prospects of missing out on the Athens Olympics is a realistic thought now.

The Indians, scheduled to meet New Zealand on Monday and Canada the day after, have to win both matches. India need to finish in the top six to make sure of Olympic qualification, as a seventh qualifying berth is still uncertain and subject to the decision of the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) following a protest by Olympic hosts Greece.

Coach Rajinder Singh is confident India will qualify for Athens. “We need to win the remaining two games, and I have absolutely no doubts that India will be there in Athens,” he said.

The clash with the Kiwis is of utmost importance. While the Indians have four points from three games, New Zealand have seven from as many matches. A third place finish in the pool would push India to play-offs for 5-8 positions.

If the Indians find themselves skating on thin ice, they have only themsleves to blame. They haven’t clicked as a unit in any of the games. The forwards flopped against Belgium, defence was a letdown versus Malaysia, while custodian Devesh Chauhan committed unpardonable errors Saturday.

Worse still, the Indians were reduced to 10 men at crucial junctures. Baljit Singh Dhillon was sent out against Belgium, Ignace Tirkey got a yellow card in the next match, and on Saturday, full-back Kanwalpreet Singh was sent off temporarily.

India’s inability to stop Abbas cost them dear. Abbas scored in the 2nd, 28th, 41st and 62nd minute, while winger Rehan Butt netted a spectacular field goal in the 34th.

For India, who outplayed Pakistan for much of the game, Deepak Thakur (33rd) and Gagan Ajit Singh (42nd, 44th) underlined potency of the attack.

Viren Rasquinha came up with an outstanding performance in the midfield. Gagan Ajit posed a serious threat, but a sharper finish from him and his colleagues could have turned the match for India.

The Pakistanis played second fiddle, struggling to get the ball away from their circle. They came up with a few stray raids, and to their good fortune, were able to manufacture the penalty corners they were looking for.

All the running was done by India, while Pakistan made better use of the opportunities. The Indians’ failure to translate supremacy into goals proved to be their undoing. Deepak (twice), Gagan Ajit and Baljit Singh Dhillon missed out on scoring chances.

Pakistan were presented their first of two chances in the second minute when an infringement by captain Dilip Tirkey resulted in a penalty corner that Abbas promptly converted. Indian then proceeded to dominate the exchanges.

Pakistan forced their second penalty corner against the run of play, and Abbas came up with a clever conversion.

The Indians, to their credit, kept their composure and pulled one back in the 33rd when Deepak swatted home a deflection off a defender’s stick following a hit-in by Gagan Ajit.

However, the Pakistanis retaliated from a fast counter-attack with Nadeem putting through Butt who got past advancing goalkeeper Chauhan and slid the ball into the boards even as he fell.

India showed considerable urgency in the second-half, but it was Abbas yet again who converted the third penalty corner to give Pakistan a 4-1 advantage. At this point, India enjoyed their best period of the match when Gagan Ajit scored twice in a two-minute spell to put his team back in the hunt (3-4).

But the Pakistanis came up with the killer punch in the final minutes with Abbas coming good with another penalty corner.

Holland, Spain qualify

Hosts Spain and The Netherlands qualified for the Athens Olympics when they defeated Britain 2-1 and Poland 4-0, respectively, in pool A league matches here on Sunday.

For the Dutchmen Floris Evers (11th), Erik Jazet (26th) and Teun de Nooijer (67th and 69th) scored, handing the Olympic champions their third win in four matches.

Earlier, Spain got past Britain as Xavier Ribas converted two penalty corners (41st, 55th) for Spain in reply to a 13th minute strike by Danny Hall.

The result put Spain on 10 points, the same as the Netherlands as the two confirmed their progress to the semi-finals.(PTI)