Argentina rout India in Azlan Shah hockey tournament

YET ANOTHER LOSS: Argentina fired the first salvo in the 12th minute of the contest.

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Ipoh (Malaysia): India paid the price for a sloppy defence to suffer an embarrassing 5-1 defeat against Argentina in the Sultan Azlan Shah hockey tournament in Ipoh on Friday.

The jittery Indians, who had lost 4-3 to New Zealand in their opening match, put up a rather pathetic display to find themselves at the bottom of the points table after the first two matches.

The Argentineans relied on the brilliance of Facundo Callioni who struck three goals while Pedro Ibarra and Tomas Incento chipped in with a goal each in what turned out to a lop-sided contest.

Drag flicker Sandip Singh scored the only goal for the Indian team which consisted mostly of junior players who were found wanting against their much faster opponents.

Argentina fired the first salvo in the 12th minute of the contest when the nippy Callioni produced a brilliant backhand flick to take the Indian defenders by surprise.

The goal was the result of a fast counter attack, which saw Callioni break through the defence and find the target.

The Indians, who lacked the sting in the forward line, restored parity in the 25th minute with drag flicker Sandip Singh scoring his fourth goal in the tournament by converting a penalty corner.

The goal served as a tonic for the Indians who managed to make a number of forays into the rival box but invariably failed to get their acts together at the goalmouth.

In the other matches, Pakistan's Rehan Butt scored four goals to help his team beat New Zealand 6-3 while Canada got the better of Belgium 1-0.