India indeed made a winning start but the margin of victory could certainly have been better. The 1-0 win over China in India's opening match in the seventh Asia Cup hockey tournament has broken the jinx of India beginning on a losing note, something that has been playing on Indian minds.
The reigning champions might have won their opening match at the Mayor Radhakrishnan stadium here but the quality of play would leave one wanting for more. Familiar problems dogged India.
The most important would be on the penalty corner front. A total of seven penalty corners were awarded in India's favour.
Match-winning goal
Five were frittered away totally, one was a doubtful decision against the Indians and they converted one, the match-winning goal.
The match-winner came off former skipper Dilip Tirkey in the 46 th minute.
If one talks about attacks, it was Rajpal Singh and Tushar Khandekar who did the bulk of the work from the right flank. And there were was virtually no attacking from the left flank, which was mainly manned by Prabhjot Singh.
Main thrusts
The main thrusts into the Chinese circle were from the centre. Still, whatever attacks were made were the result of midfield tackles, with attacks originating from the defence coming at a premium. China packed a heavy defence and it never looked as if they were in any mood to attack barring the stray foray.
The first of the penalty corners was converted by VR Raghunath but umpire Michiel Bruning did not award it. Apparently, the ball had not travelled outside the circle.
Much later, Bruning first awarded a penalty stroke for stickcheck but reversed the decision and a bully was played instead. This was after consultation with the other umpire Richmond Attipoe, following Chinese protests after the stroke was awarded.
The second half was not any exciting either. But Dilip did liven up the proceedings from an indirect short corner conversion.
Off a Khandekar push, Bimal Lakra stopped and relayed to Dilip slightly to the left even as Raghunath played a dummy. There was that distinct rap from Dilip's stick as the ball found the boards in a flash.
Slender lead
From then, India were content with defending their slender lead, which they managed to hold on to till the hooter went off.
Among the other dull, high-scoring matches that were on display, Pakistan scored a 6-1 win over Hong Kong.
Though they won by a big margin, Pakistan looked rather rusty.
The South Asians threw away numerous penalty corner opportunities in the first half, with Imran Warsi and Muhammad Imran being the guilty parties.
Even Shakeel Abassi did not take advantage of three open goal chances in the first half.
Results:
Pool A: Malaysia 8 (Zulkifli Md Rejab 3rd, 46th PC, Megat Azrafiq 22nd PS, Ismail Abu 33rd, Azlon Misron 48th, 68th, Chua Boon Huat 67th, 69th) bt Singapore 0. HT: 3-0.
Pakistan 6 (Muhammad Imran 11th, 29th PC, Shakeel Abbasi 13th, 59th, Ihsan Ullah 38th PC, Imran Khan 56 th PC) bt Hong Kong 1 (Ali Arif 46th PC). HT. 3-0
Pool B:
India 1 (Dilip Tirkey, 46th PC) bt China 0. Bangladesh 13 (Md Jahid bin Talib 4th, Rasel Mahmud 10th, 19th, 67th PC, 69th, Khondokar Hasan 24th, Md Iqbal Nadir 39th, 45th, Md Zahidul Islam 40th, 59th,  Md Mamun 52nd , 55th, 62nd PC) bt Thailand 0. HT: 4-0.
Korea 12 (Oh Dae Keun 3rd, Lee Jae Won 6th, Kim Byung Hoon 12th, 22nd, 38th, 62nd PC, Jang Jong Hyun 16th, 24th, 41st, 46th PC, You Hyo Sik 61st PC, Kang Seong Jung 64th) bt Sri Lanka 2 (Md Gazalli 52nd, 67th). HT: 6-0.
Saturday's matches: YMCA stadium: Korea vs Thailand 2.00 pm; Malaysia vs Hong Kong 4.00; Mayor Radhakrishnan stadium: Japan vs Pakistan 3.00 pm, China vs Bangladesh 5.00 pm, India vs Sri Lanka 7.00.