New Delhi: On the day that saw the best attendance in the Hockey World League (HWL) Finals here at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, India faced their worst defeat of the tournament - when the world champions Australia erased India's surprising 2-0 lead to hammer them 7-2 and enter the semi-finals.
India began with a spark about them, going into lead as early as the 6th minute when Birender Lakra finished a fine move initiated by SK Uthappa. And when Yuvraj Walmiki made it 2-0 in the 11th, the 7000-plus crowd started believing that they were in for a pleasant surprise.
But by the end of the first 35 minutes, Australia had turned the game on its head to lead 3-2 with goals from Nicholas Budgeon (24th), Jason Wilson (29th) and Glenn Turner (35th).
The second half saw India slipping deeper and deeper into a hole with errors creeping in, especially from the last match's Man-of-the-Match Rupinderpal Singh and captain Sardar Singh.
The match turned into a goal fest from the 41st minute onward when Russell Ford pumped in his first of the game. Four minutes later, it was the turn of Simon Orchard to join in the fun with a field effort.
Ford was once again on the mark in the 47th minute to make it 6-2 and the final nail in the coffin was hammered in by No. 12 Jacob Whetton.
India failed to score off the three PCs they earned - all in the second half of the game. Australia scored on one of their two short corners.
India will play Germany next on Jan 17th for the 5th-8th classification match.
Earlier in the quarter-final action on Wednesday, England beat Belgium 1-0 to stay unbeaten in the event. Netherlands got the better of Germany 2-1 in the second QF and New Zealand faced sudden death before beating Argentina 4-3 to progress to the semis.
England will play New Zealand in the first semi-final while Netherlands take on Australia in the second.
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