Press Trust of India
Ipoh (Malaysia), Apr 11: Young striker Nikkin Thimmaiah scored a hat-trick as India produced their best performance of the tournament to stun world champions and title holders Australia 4-2 and secure a place in the third and fourth place play-off at the Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament here Saturday.
India scored a goal each in all the four quarters through VR Raghunath (1st minute), Nikkin (23rd, 32nd, 60th), while Australia’s goals came from the sticks of Daniel Beale (14th) and Matt Gohdes (53rd).
By virtue of this win, India finished their league engagements with seven points from five game and will now face either Korea or New Zealand in the third-fourth place classification match Sunday.
The Indians were off to a great start as they went on the offensive from the word go and in the process earned two penalty corners in succession with the very first move of the match and Raghunath converted the second set piece with a booming flick to give the side an early lead. The Indian defence, however, broke down just a minute from the end of the first quarter as Australia equalised through Beale.
Four minutes into the second quarter, Satbir Singh hit one straight to the Australian goalie Clemons. Minutes later, India restored their lead when Nikkin scored his first of the day after being set up by Satbir and SK Uthappa’s fine play. From the very next move, India made the scoreline 3-1 in their favour through second strike from Nikkin, who neatly deflected in a Manpreet Singh pass from the right.
Australia reduced the margin in the seven minutes from the hooter when Gohdes caught the Indian defence off guard by deflecting in a Budgeon’s splitting diagonal ball from outside the circle. Nikkin sealed the match for India just at the stroke of the hooter scoring with a reverse hit from a counter-attack.
