Hockey World League: Jasjit's brace fires India to the semis

NEW DELHI: Riding on two goals from drag flicker Jasjit Singh and PR Sreejesh’s terrific form under the bar, India edged a spirited Malaysian side 3-2 to book a place in the semi-final of the Hockey World League Semi-Final 2015 at Antwerp, Belgium on Wednesday.
As it happened: India vs Malaysia
India will face Belgium in the semifinal on July 3, after latter beat France by 5-4 in the fourth quarterfinal. In other semifinal, Australia will take on Great Britain.
India came from behind scoring two goals in the final quarter after Malaysia had taken lead in the second quarter. A win today would have assured a place for Malaysia in the Rio Olympics and they played an attacking brand of hockey that had the Indian defence at sixes and sevens.
After India took an early lead courtesy Satbir Singh’s strike in the 3rd minute of the game, Malaysia came back well converting their first penalty corner at the stroke of first quarter. Razie Rahim was the goal scorer and Malaysia took the lead with another penalty corner conversion, this time by Shahril Saabah.
While Indian defence lacked discipline, the attackers did well to penetrate the Malaysian defence repeatedly but were denied again and again. Indian goalkeeper PR Sreejesh was in terrific form and denied Malaysian two certain goals. In the fourth quarter, Indians up the ante and their persistent attacks led to silly mistakes from the Malaysian side.
After missing their first two PCs, India converted via Jasjit Singh, drafted in to team for his drag flicking prowess. A perfect injection from Sardar Singh gave Jasjit ample time to find an open space and he slotted the ball high past the Malaysian goal keeper Roslan Jamaluddin. Jasjit then fired the winning goal with four minutes remaining on the clock to the top of the net to seal the game for India 3-2.
Follow TOI Sports on Twitter >>> @TOISportsNews