IPOH (MALAYSIA), April 9 (PTI): Already out of the summit clash, a misfiring India had to toil hard to get the better of a lowly Canada 5-3 and register their first win in the ongoing 24th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament, here today.
Rupinder Pal Singh (13th minute) and V R Raghunath (32nd) scored through penalty corners before Ramanadeep Singh (46th, 47th) scored two field goals, while Satbir Singh (49th) rounded off the tally with another field strike.
For Canada, who are ranked 15th in the world as compared to India�s ninth spot, Oliver Scholfield (43rd), Jagdish Gill (49th) and David Jameson (52nd) were the goal getters.
Even though India had the better share of possession and ball control, they were far from impressive.
For the fourth straight match, the Indians were guilty of missing numerous chances and their fragile backline as usual conceded soft goals.
India makes huge jump
of 26 places in FIFA list
New Delhi, April 9 (PTI): The Indian football team reaped a rich harvest of a win and a draw against Nepal last month in the 2018 World Cup Qualifiers Round One as it made a huge jump of 26 places to occupy the 147th spot in the latest FIFA rankings issued today.
India beat Nepal 2-0 and drew 0-0 over the two legs on March 12 and 17 respectively to gain 87 average points from the previous month when it was lying at a lowly 173rd among 209 countries. This was the best ranking for the Indian team in the FIFA charts in nearly a year after its identical 147th in the May 2014 list.
