Hockey World League Semi-Final 2017: India crush Pakistan to set up fifth place battle with Canada

London: India continued to torment Pakistan in the Hero Hockey World League Semifinals, hammering the arch-rivals 6-1 in a 5th-8th place classification match on Saturday. Ramandeep Singh (8th, 28th) and Akashdeep Singh (12th and 27th) struck a brace each while Harmanpreet (36th) sounded the board in the third quarter in India’s comprehensive victory in the match. [caption id=“attachment_3742339” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  India’s Ramandeep Singh celebrates scoring against Pakistan at World Hockey League. AP[/caption] Pakistan pulled one back through Ajaz Ahmad (41st) in the third quarter while Mandeep Singh (59th) completed the tally for India in the dying moments of the match. The win is India’s second in a row over Pakistan in the tournament after a 7-1 result in their first match. The Indians will take on Canada in the 5th-6th place match on Sunday. The first quarter belonged to India with play mostly restricted to the Pakistan half. Ramandeep put India ahead in the eighth minute when his reverse flick beat the Pakistan custodian. Akashdeep had a chance to double the lead four minutes later but it went abegging. He received a pass from Ramandeep, ran into the circle alone and had only the goalkeeper to beat but could not control the ball and ended up missing the goal. Talwinder though did not make the mistake in giving India their second goal as he deflected a rasping cross from Pardeep Mor from the right. India took the game away from the arch-rivals in the second quarter with three strikes that handed India a 4-0 cushion at half time. Pakistan had hardly come to terms with the onslaught when Akashdeep (27th) struck from the left flank as he lobbed the ball past the goalkeeper and the ball hit the bar before crossing the line. Leaving the Pakistani team in complete disarray, Ramandeep struck for a second time. SV Sunil sent a pass into the ‘D’ and a fully stretched Ramandeep just had to connect to send the ball into the goal. Harmanpreet converted a short corner to make it 5-0. Ahmad reduced the deficit, taking full advantage of a rare defensive slip by the Indians.