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Hockey: India Lose To New Zealand In Azlan Shah Cup, Still Winless

Hockey: India Lose To New Zealand, Continue Poor Run In Azlan Shah Cup
India's Vitalachharya Sunil Sowmarper (L) vies against Ben Hawes of Britain during a third place play-off match at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup men's field hockey tournament in Malaysia's nothern town Ipoh of Perak state on June 3, 2012. India beat Britain 3-1. AFP PHOTO / Saeed Khan (Photo credit should read SAEED KHAN/AFP/GettyImages)
SAEED KHAN via Getty Images
India's Vitalachharya Sunil Sowmarper (L) vies against Ben Hawes of Britain during a third place play-off match at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup men's field hockey tournament in Malaysia's nothern town Ipoh of Perak state on June 3, 2012. India beat Britain 3-1. AFP PHOTO / Saeed Khan (Photo credit should read SAEED KHAN/AFP/GettyImages)

IPOH, MALAYSIA — India's poor start continued today as sloppy defending resulted in a late goal by New Zealand in their second league match of the 24th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament.

Despite enjoying better possession and ball control, India paid the price for letting their guard down when put under pressure and succumbed to their first loss. For New Zealand, it was their second straight victory in the six-nation tournament at the Azlan Shah Stadium. India have not won a single game so far.

After a barren opening half, New Zealand took the lead in the 38th minute through a field goal from skipper Simon Child before Andy Hayward (55th) converted a late penalty corner to hand India's chief coach Paul van Ass his first defeat after taking charge of the team. India's lone goal came from the stick of striker Akashdeep Singh in the 43rd minute.

After this win, New Zealand have garnered maximum six points from two outings, while India have only one point from as many games. Contrary to the final outcome, the Indians looked far more organised and coordinated today compared to the tournament-opener against Korea yesterday. India controlled the game for most part of the opening 30 minutes, but just lost the rhythm in the last 10 minutes of the opening half. However, it was the Black Sticks who had the first shy at the goal in the fourth minute but Hugo Inglis missed an open chance as he shot wide with only India goalkeeper P R Sreejesh to beat.

Just when the match was settling into a good pace, heavy showers lashed the stadium, forcing the umpires to stop the match. After the nearly 10-minute rain interruption, the match resumed and India had their first real scoring opportunity in the 14th minute, which an unmarked Ramandeep Singh squandered by hitting straight to the pads of New Zealand goalkeeper Devon Manchester.

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