Deepak Thakur

Arjun Halappa

Madrid: India posted an unconvincing 2-0 win against New Zealand in a crucial pool B match of the Olympic qualifiers Monday to strengthen their prospects of a berth in Athens.

Goals by Arjun Halappa (2nd) and Deepak Thakur (67th) set up the second Indian win in the tournament, leaving the New Zealanders to rue the six penalty corners and four scoring chances they failed to convert.

The victory took India’s tally to seven points, the same as New Zealand, after four matches. However, India have a goal-difference of ‘plus two’ as against New Zealand’s ‘plus one’.

India will play Canada in their final league match Tuesday and a win should put them in contention for a semi-final berth, as well as guaranteeing them a ticket to Athens. New Zealand will take on Pakistan.

India, in desperate need for a win, could not have hoped for a better start than the second minute strike by Halappa who was left free on the right to receive Bimal Lakra’s pass and slam the ball into the net.

The move began with a long hit by Dilip Tirkey who found Gagan Ajit Singh on the left. Gagan relayed to Baljit Dhillon who after advancing a few yards flicked to his left to Bimal and then on to Halappa.

The Indians could not increase the tally though they had a few more chances. Deepak Thakur, Vikram Pillay and Ignace Tirkey just could not beat goalkeeper Paul Woolford.

The New Zealanders were unlucky to miss a couple of sitters. Dion Gosling was very near to scoring after put through by Umesh Parag. The New Zealand forward lost his footing even as he attempted a flick with Chauhan out of position.

In the last quarter, the Indians came up with a couple of good runs with winger Prabhjot Singh rediscovering his form. Past the 67th minute, he steamed down the left and flicked to Gagan Ajit Singh whose deflection went to Thakur. With goalkeeper Wooldford looking down the wrong line, Thakur flicked the ball into the net.

Pakistan dropped two points after being held goalless by Malaysia in the day’s final pool B match. Pakistan still occupy the top position with 10 points.

Malaysian goalkeeper Roslan Jamaluddin was his team’s saviour as he negated Pakistani penalty-corner specialist Sohail Abbas on four occasions.

In another pool B tie, Belgium and Canada drew 2-2. Belgium thus stayed in contention for at least a fourth-place finish in the pool and thereby for a 5-8 position classification round. Canada are out of contention.

Jean-Philippe Brule (24th) and Mike Dewever (49th) scored for Belgium while the Canadians replied through Sean Campbell (30th) and skipper Rob Short (32nd, penalty stroke).

Meanwhile, all the 24 members of the Indian hockey contingent would get an “incentive” of 100 euros (about Rs 6,000) each if the team qualifies for Athens.

Team manager K. Krishnamurthy said: “At the team meeting yesterday, I announced on behalf of the IHF that each member will receive 100 euros if India beats Canada Tuesday and confirms qualification to the Athens Olympics.”