India seek to retain 3rd place finish at Azlan Shah Cup

Kuala Lumpur, May 12 (UNI) India will have to put aside their disappointing 1-2 loss to Malaysia and regroup in order to retain their last year's third place when they take on South Korea for the third and fourth position playoff at the Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament here tomorrow.

The Indians have shown some very positive performance in the tournament and their loss to Malaysia should not dampen their spirits. Their only problem in the semi-final tie was their inability to convert their chances that came their way.

The South Koreans will not be an easy team to play. The Asian Games champions are known for their speed play and also their tenacious defending. They also have an ace in Jeong Yun-sang who has scored five penalty corner goals in the tournament.

Indian Coach Joaquim Carvalho has to come up with another tactical move to do beat the Koreans.

''We need to get back on our feet and defend the third placing we won last year. The young players are doing well and the only problem we had was in converting our chances. That has got to improve,'' he added.

The forward line of Tushar Khandekar, Prabjot Singh, Shiwender Singh, Rajpal Singh, Rishnan Minz and Bharath Chikkara has to be more clinical in their finish. They have the tendency to take the ball right into the D only to lose the possession.

They have to make their shorts count. Once negative aspect of their game is that they tend to be over individualistic when they get into the D. The goal against Malaysia was scored when they played as a unit and complemented each. No doubt it was through a set piece move but it showed their understandimg when they chose to play it.

All the Indians need is to stay focused and to win the match to continue with their team rebuilding exercise.

UNI