Shivendra Singh (26th min), Sandeep Singh (40th min, 61st min) scored for India while Mark Pearson (50th min), Scott Tupper (53rd min) were on target for Canada.
The Indians, who will play Poland in their final pool match on Friday, have won all the four matches they have played so far and are virtually through to the final with 12 points.
Canada are on six points from four games and will have to win their final pool game against France in order to entertain any hopes of entering the final. France and Poland are joint second with nine points each, but the Canadians are still in with a chance of making it to the summit clash. If the Poles lose to India and Canada manages to defeat the French on Friday, then the North Americans will go through to the final due to their vastly superior goal difference.
Having scored at will during their earlier matches, the Indian forwards found it hard going against the Canadians, who played a defensive game, occasionally catching the Indian defence on the wrong foot with their fast counter attacks.
Although they dominated possession throughout the match, the Indians looked decidedly listless and took their time to settle down in the early stages and struggled to build up effective moves. On the other hand, the Canadians looked more threatening with the few forays they made into the Indian circle.
Shivender scored the only goal of the opening half with a reverse hit to ensure that the Indians went into the break with a 1-0 lead.
SV Sunil missed a sitter immediately after the restart as his close range shot whizzed over the Canadian bar. Canadian custodian Antoni Kindler did well to deny SK Uthappa in the very next minute while Sarvanjit Singh also good a good chance.
Sandeep doubled India’s lead with a powerful dragflick.
But the Canadians soon made the Indians pay for their sloppy defence by scoring two quick consecutive goals through Pearson and Tupper to come back on level terms.
Sunil missed another easy goal in the 59th minute as he was unable to deflect in a powerful drive by Kothajit Singh from outside the circle.
India regained the lead with Sandeep sounding the board with a powerful dragflick and survived some anxious moments towards the end to chalk out a scrappy win.
No giving dil here
New Delhi: The catch phrase ‘phir dil do hockey ko’ rang hollow on the opening day of the Olympic qualifiers at the Major Dhyan Chand National stadium on Saturday. The 20,000 capacity arena was almost empty with policemen outnumbering spectators in the stands.
The only saving grace was the Indian Army who brought in sizeable numbers of soldiers to watch the matches. The empty galleries have apparently embarrassed organisers Hockey India (HI) and International Hockey Federation (FIH), with officials remaining unavailable for comment.
The Indian men’s team’s matches with France and Canada have seen the biggest numbers of spectators so far, with around 1,000 people enjoying the action from the stands. The lack of crowds forced the organizers to allow students to watch the matches for a nominal charge of `10.
However, with India virtually assured of reaching the finals of both the men’s and women’s events, the organizers will surely be hoping that the crowds will throng the stadium on the weekend.
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