Penalty-corner expert Sandeep Singh scored a hat-trick as India boosted their chances of making it to the men’s final with a 6-2 win over France in the Olympic qualifying tournament on Tuesday.
In other matches in New Delhi, Canada routed inexperienced Singapore 15-1 and Poland defeated Italy 7-2 for their second win in three games.
India currently top the six-team group with nine points from three matches, followed by Canada, Poland and France who have six points apiece. Singapore and Italy are virtually out of contention.
In the women’s section, Italy held higher-ranked South Africa to a surprise 1-1 draw, Ukraine overcame a 1-0 deficit to down Canada 5-2 and India beat Poland 3-0.
India and South Africa lead the group with seven points each, followed by Italy (five), Ukraine (four), Canada (one) and Poland (nil).
The top two teams in each event will enter the final, with the winners qualifying for the London Olympics.
The hosts began on an impressive note when Shivendra Singh and Sandeep Singh struck in the opening nine minutes, but France counter-attacked to keep pressure on the Indian goal.
Sandeep converted a penalty-stroke to help India gain a 3-0 lead before Lucas Sevestre reduced the margin off a penalty-corner in the closing minute of the opening session.
Sandeep scored off a penalty-corner in the second half to complete his hat-trick before S.V. Sunil and Tushar Khandker found the mark. Fabien Magner scored the second goal for France.
“Overall, it was a good performance. We played the way we wanted to. We had a plan and everything went according to it,” India coach Michael Nobbs said. “We are improving with every match and cutting down on errors.”
Mark Pearson and Scott Tupper each scored four goals for Canada, who kept alive their hopes of making it to the final. The other goal-scorers were Rob Short (3), Philip Wright, Richard Hildreth, Sukhwinder Singh and Matthew Guest.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set