India scrape through to Round II of Pre-Olympics after eight years

Kolkata, Feb 14 (UNI) A heroic effort from custodian Subrata Paul helped India to move into the second round of the pre-Olympic qualifiers for the first time this millennium, beating lowly Myanmar 5-1 via the tie-breaker after remaining tied on 1-1 for 120 minutes at the Salt Lake stadium here today.

Manjit Singh had put India ahead in the 40th minute, but the brittle Indian defence conceded well into the 92nd minute, taking the match into extra time and then the tie-breaker.

Paul blocked the efforts of Myo Min and Si Thu and ensured India's qualification. For India, Sunil Kumar, Debarata Ray, skipper NS Manju and Manjit converted from the spot, while Khin Mong Lwin was the only successful player for Myanmar.

India will face Iraq in the next round, but Iraq will play their home fixture in Jordan due to incessant tensions in the country.

This is the first time in eight years that India moved to the second round of the Qualifiers. However, the tag of chokers is firmly stuck to the scruff of their neck even as they move through.

In both the home and away matches they went up against Myanmar, wasted several opportunities and then conceded a goal in the dying minutes to nullify that advantage.

Today was no exception as Indian forwards wasted chances in galore, Manjit particularly had a poor game upfront, Sushil also had an unusually off day and their finishing left a lot to be desired.

The visitors had no problem in dealing with the sting less Indian attack until the 40th minute, when a defensive error from Yaza Win put the ball on a platter for Manjit who in turn made no mistake in slotting it home.

The Indian's tried to crowd up their defence, to keep hold of their lead and some desperate defending from Manju and Gourmangi kept them in the game. But late into the three-minute injury time Moe Win scored to take the match into the extra time. Paul had made two excellent saves from Aung Myo and Kyaw Thi but the Indian defence failed to clear the ball. Moe Win followed up the rebound making full use of the absent Indian marking.

Teams: India: Subrata Paul, NS Manju, Debabrata Ray, Chandam Chitrasen (Parveen Rawat, 95), Syed Rahim Nabi, (Mehtab Hussain, 85), Gourmangi Singh, Sushil Singh (Tarif Ahamed, 79), Sunil Kumar, Rakesh Masih, Manjit Singh and Rocous Lamare.

Myanmar: Kyaw Zin, Han Win, Moe Win, Zaw Htet, Khin Mong Lwin, Soe Thiha (Kyaw Thi, 53), Aung Myint (Hla Aye, 88), Si Thu, Aung Myo, Myo Min and Yaza Win (Khin Mong Tun, 46) Referee: Mr Ali Hamad.

UNI