Ipoh: Indian hockey team defeated Pakistan 5-1 in their fourth match of the 25th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament today.
After defeating Japan and Canada earlier in the tournament, India today registered their third win over arch-rivals Pakistan to jump to the second spot in the league ratings.
With two goals, SV Sunil turned out to be the top scorer for India. Manpreet Singh, Talwinder Singh and Rupinder Pal Singh scored one goal each leading to the team’s big victory.
Manpreet Singh scored the first goal for India with a marvellous reverse hit. The lead was, however, levelled by Muhammad Irfan who struck an excellent penalty corner.
S.V. Sunil scored twice in the 10th and 41st minutes to make it 3-1 for India.
Later, Talwinder Singh scored a field goal in the 50th minute, while Rupinder Pal Singh's goal from a penalty corner gave India the 5-1 win.
Rupinder's penalty stroke miss was probably the only blip from the Indian side on the day.
With this win, India moved to the second spot with nine points from four games, while Pakistan remain on the sixth spot with three points from four matches.
New Zealand, who lost to Australia and gave their trans-Tasman neighbours fourth straight win from as many games earlier in the day, dropped to the third position.
(with IANS inputs)
