Austin Smith converts South Africa’s fourth penalty corner in the 48th minute to give South Africa a 3-2 lead.
India had a Sarvanjit Singh goal disallowed due to an infringement in the Indian territory.
South Africa come good in their second penalty corner of the match. It is 2-2 in the 39th minute. Justin Reid-Ross scored off an indirect penalty corner after Indian goalie Adrian D’Souza defended the first strike very well.
Goals from Sarvanjit Singh (17th minute) and Vikram Pillai (23rd) help India lead 2-1 at halftime. South Africa drew first blood in the 8th minute through Lloyd Norris-Jones. India have had the larger share of the exchanges.
India took 2-1 lead in the 23rd minute. India won their second penalty corner, but Shivender Singh failed to trap cleanly. He quickly made amends as he dribbled past the South African runner and set up Diwakar Ram for a shot at the SA goal. Vikram Pillai deflected Diwakar’s shot into the goal.
A fine three-man move helped India draw level in the 17th minute after South Africa drew first blood in the eight minute. Arjun Halappa found Prabhjot Singh on top of the Dee. The South Africans left Sarvanjit Singh unmarked and the paid the price. Sarvanjit kept his cool to make it 1-1.
Earlier, Lloyd Norris-Jones picked up a free ball on top of the 25-yard line, left the Indian defence in his wake with sheer speed and banged in from top of the Dee.
One nation that came to the World Cup with no pretensions was South Africa. In a country, where hockey probably comes a distant fifth in popularity, South Africa came to the 2010 World Cup after raising funds through a lottery. But with their free-flowing hockey they have proved to be quite a handful. This, in spite of losing by a record dozen goals against big brothers, Australia at the National Stadium last week.
Not worried about scorelines and margin of defeat, South Africa have played attacking hockey and even left Pakistan in their wake with a stunning 4-3 win against the four-time World champions. And India will have to be on their guard tonight.
India’s defence has been porous throughout the World Cup and South Africa will surely exploit that. South Africa have scored 10 goals in this tournament through seven different players. So India have to be extra careful because there will be more than one man to mark.
India have an unbeaten record against South Africa in World Cups. In three matches, India have won once and drawn twice. In 1994, India and South Africa drew 2-2. Their pool match in the 2006 World Cup in Germany ended 1-1. The two nations ended up fighting for the 11th and 12th places. India beat the Proteas 1-0.
Ranked No. 12 in the world, India must win to hunt for a 5th or 6th place in the tournament. India have won the World Cup once in 1975. Tonight, India will look for their second win in the championship after beating Pakistan 4-1 in their opener.
"IPL a good platform to groom players"
IPL works as a good platform to find and groom talented youngsters, who may go on to play in the national team, said MS Dhoni.
Citing an example, Dhoni said players who made a mark in the first edition went on to play for the country.
"We had Manpreet Goni, Murali Vijay and S Badrinath coming into the side. And Suresh Raina is becoming a great player. We are contributing a lot towards Indian cricket.
Overall, we are trying to groom the Indian cricketers for the betterment of the game in India," Dhoni, who leads Chennai Super Kings, said.
Dhoni said that the current rule of having a limited number of foreign players in the side gives them a chance to try youngsters and was in favour of continuing with it.
"If the overseas players want to find a place in the playing eleven, they have to fight among themselves and not against Indian stock. It is perfect right now and I am quite happy with the system of only four players finding place in the final eleven," he said.
Dhoni's comments came after coach Stephen Fleming spoke about importance of overseas players doing duty in IPL teams.
"International players coming in to play for different franchisees is important. It is the mix of players that help a team perform well. We have good talented bunch of players from Tamil Nadu in CSK. It is good to have them," Fleming said
Dhoni is happy that players would not have to spend much time on road unlike the second edition.
"You compare it with last IPL in South Africa, we will not be travelling that much in India. We have a base and we will be playing most of the matches in Chennai.
"The facilities are great so I do not think it will be as tiring as last year's IPL. We will be enjoying much more in playing in India. Next 45 days we will be busy and lot of pressure will be on the cricketers," he said.
The skipper though said weather of the city would pose a challenge for the players.
"Chennai is hot and humid even at around 8.00 pm.
"Twenty20 is therefore very demanding in all respects, particularly on the body and also on the mental side."
Dhoni said his side was a balanced one with good batsmen and bowlers.
"As a team we rely more on our batting strength. We have strong options in bowlers like Manpreet Goni, L Balaji, Sudeep Tyagi and spinners like R Ashwin in our ranks.
"In the past they have done well for us. We will try to get the best out of these bowling options. We just need to play good cricket and more often than not when we do that, we will be winning games," he said.
On the availability of players for this season, Fleming said almost all the players would be available except for Kiwi player Jacob Oram.
He said Australia's Michael Hussey's would miss first few matches and would join the squad from April 1 since he will be busy with his national team in New Zealand.
"Jacob Oram of course is not available. I think the full squad should be available for CSK. There was a huge question mark on Andrew Flintoff's availability. Justin Kemp is the replacement for Flintoff," he said.
Dhoni also said player like Kemp with all round abilities would prove quite useful.
"When our main bowlers have an off-day, we have strong options to use others as bowlers and Kemp is one of them. Such options in the team for a 20-20 match, it is good for the team. Kemp is a big hitter. He can be an asset to the side."
On Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan, Dhoni said, "He is the best spinner in the world and still in international circuit. He can be useful in every format of the game. He is a great guy to have in the dressing room like Makhaya Nitini and others.
Reid terms Aussie players 'idiots'
Former New Zealand captain John Reid feels some members of the Australian team are "idiots" who need to be reined in.
"Generally the Australian team looks good, but there are a handful of idiots who need to be reined in," Reid was quoted as saying in 'The Age'.
"Do your work with the bat and the ball, not your mouth."
While some praised Johnson for sparking life into the series, Reid said the aggression displayed by the pacer was "not required".
Australia are playing a five-match ODI series against New Zealand. Series is levelled at 1-1.
Reid said players need to understand the importance of playing the game in good spirit. "Like it or not, these guys are role models for youngsters. Johnson was the aggressor, but he's mad head-butting someone with a helmet on."
Reid claimed that in his time refereeing, Australian players were "always the worst at sledging".
"I dealt with barging by Glenn McGrath, bowlers standing in the way of a runner - like Johnson did to Styris," he said.
ICC match referee Ranjan Madugalle slapped Johnson and Styris with fines rather than suspensions for their showdown in the series opener at Napier but Reid felt the punishment could have been stricter.
"I think he (Madugalle) did a reasonable job but, if anything, he could have come down a bit tougher."
Jadeja's ban appeal rejected
Rajasthan Royals all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja's slender hopes of playing the Indian Premier League went up in smoke.
His hopes evaporated after the IPL governing council turned down his appeal against a one-year ban for violating the Twenty20 event's terms and conditions.
Jadeja was banned for negotiating outside his contract with the Rajasthan Royals.
In his appeal, the all-rounder claimed that he had taken the BCCI's permission to look for other teams after the Royals gave no indication of renewing his contract which ended in December last year.
According to a cricket website, IPL vice-chairman Niranjan Shah raised the issue of reducing the ban on Jadeja with BCCI President Shashank Manohar during Sunday's tender meeting in Mumbai but his appeal was turned down.
"He (Manohar) did not want to set a wrong precedent, so he dismissed the request. So Jadeja now cannot play in the IPL (this year)," an IPL official said.
Tennis News
Somdev, Bopanna improve rankings
Despite suffering twin defeats during India's Davis Cup World Group tie against Russia, Somdev Devvarman rose seven rungs to 121.
Rohan Bopanna also jumped 26 places to re-enter the top-400 and now sits at 390 in the latest ATP singles rankings.
The big serving Bopanna lost to Youzhny but defeated Teimuraz Gabashvili in the dead rubber.
India lost the tie 2-3.
In the doubles list, Leander Paes (6) and Mahesh Bhupathi (8) had their rankings unchanged.
In the WTA charts, out of action Sania Mirza slid to 84 from 83 but maintained her 35th position in the doubles.
Russian teen wins Monterrey Open
Russian teenager Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova staged a brilliant comeback to win her second match of the day and land the Monterrey Open title.
Pavlyuchenkova, the third seed, was given a major test by Latvian Anastasija Sevastova in her semi-final, which had to be played on Sunday after rain washed out much of yesterday's scheduled play.
She won 6-3 2-6 6-1, and then had the opportunity to rest as the doubles final took place.
Slovakian Hantuchova had just enough time to complete her Saturday match before the poor weather arrived, and she looked set to take advantage as she raced away with the first set.
However the 26-year-old crumbled as she chased what would have been her first title since triumphing at Indian Wells in 2007, and Pavyluchenkova dominated the second and third sets.
Golf News
Rose: Cup will take care of itself
Justin Rose beleievs the less he thinks about the Ryder Cup the better his chances will be of making Colin Montgomerie's team.
He is playing much of his golf in the United States after admitting he has achieved most of his ambitions in Europe; however, he is eager to be on Montgomerie's Europe team for the match against the United States at Celtic Manor in October.
Rose said: "Ryder Cup is really important to me but it's something that I don't feel like I can focus on right now.
"It's a weird thing. I think, for me to get into the Ryder Cup, I need to not worry about the Ryder Cup if that makes any sense. The Ryder Cup will take care of itself if I play well. I've just got to play well.
"Like I did last time around, I had to tailor my schedule towards the end of the qualification process to make the team, and that's what I'll do again, should I be close."
Rose was on Nick Faldo's team two years ago but failed to pick up a point.
Given the current strength in British and European golf, he knows it will not be easy to retain his place.
"I think I'm ranked eighth in England now," said Rose. "I'd struggle to make the Ryder Cup team.
"I feel like I'm a pretty good player, so that does speaks volumes for how strong English golf is right now. Obviously we've got four, five, six (high) in the world rankings as you all know. But it goes deeper than that.
"Obviously we are a real big golfing nation. I saw it out there today, a lot of English fans, English support out here. British people love their golf.
"Even though it's a small country, I think it's not that surprising to me that that's the sort of representation on tour."
Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Paul Casey are the English trio near the summit of the rankings, and Germany's Martin Kaymer, Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy and Sweden's Henrik Stenson also feature in the world's top 10.
Rose's form in Florida, where he finished behind Anthony Kim and tournament winner Camilo Villegas, was good and he is well respected in the United States.
He is somewhat surprised he has failed to win a tournament so far on the PGA Tour.
"I have played good enough golf to win out here," Rose said. "I've been close a few times.
"If I can just maintain the direction I'm going and certainly try to recreate the sort of calm mindset that I've had the last few days, I certainly believe it will happen."
He added: "I feel motivated to play well over here this year. Obviously I've won the European Order of Merit. That's a great achievement, too.
"I want to go on to achieve more on the European Tour but I feel like, in some senses, I have ticked that one off my list.
"I feel like, in my career over here, I haven't done as much over here as I have over there, obviously.
"So that's a focus for me, to try to break through over here. And I guess that's where my attention is right now.
"Being ranked outside the world's top 50, it's tough to commit to playing both tours. That's why I need to get back into the top 50 and that will make my schedule a lot easier and make my decisions to play the European Tour a lot more simple.
"But, like I said, I'm quite committed to playing this tour this year and playing through."
Colombian Villegas finished with a 68 for a total of 13 under par, with Kim on eight under and Rose a further shot back.
Rose's performance earned him more than £250,000 but was not enough to qualify him for this coming week's CA world championship in Miami.
Davies takes positives from display
Challenge Tour graduate Rhys Davies took heart from his near miss at the Maybank Malaysian Open on Sunday.
The 24-year-old was on course to claim a wire-to-wire victory after holding the share of a one-shot lead heading into the final round, but was made to pay for a poor start as a one-under-par 71 left Davies two shots adrift of teenage winner Noh Seung-yul.
The two-time Challenge Tour winner did birdie three of his last seven holes before missing a long chance on the final green which would have secured second alongside KJ Choi, but Davies was forced to settle for a tie for third and his best finish on the European Tour.
"I can take a lot of positives out of the week," he said.
"I wasn't too comfortable on the final day but I still managed to stay calm and stick to what I was trying to do. I battled well and eventually found good rhythm with the putter on the back nine.
"I felt I was going to make every putt I looked at and if I had had a little bit of luck coming in I might have made a few more but that's the way it was."
Davies' final-round partner Noh claimed his second professional win in dramatic fashion after producing a stunning chip from the edge of the practice putting green behind a hospitality marquee to set up a crucial final-hole birdie.
"It felt like it wasn't my week a little throughout the final day actually," added Davies.
"Noh chipped in on the first when it was going like a bullet but fair play to him, it hit the hole and went in.
"I struggled early on with my swing and I went out of bounds on the fifth and it just seemed that every time I miscued it was pretty severe and the other boys got away with it.
"That's how it goes and I am not bitter about it, that is just how it was. I probably had a couple of breaks myself earlier in the week and you can't be bitter about stuff like that.
"The breaks went for the two guys I was playing with and not for me. It would be great if they come my way the next time I am in contention in the final round."
Davies, who equalled his career-best finish earlier this season after finishing sixth in Abu Dhabi, will enjoy a week off before turning his attention to next week's Trophee Hassan II in Morocco.
Noh's success made him the second youngest winner in European Tour history, at the age of 18 years and nine months.
Football News
Fabregas sits out Gunners' training
Captain Cesc Fabregas did not train with the rest of the Arsenal first team ahead of the Champions League clash with Porto.
The midfielder is battling a hamstring problem in his right leg and limped off after scoring the opening goal in the 3-1 Barclays Premier League victory over Burnley on Saturday.
The tightness was in the same hamstring he injured earlier in the season, which kept him out of action at the turn of the year.
Veteran defender Sol Campbell did join in training and he looks set to recover from a groin problem in time to face the Portuguese side, who will take a 2-1 lead to the Emirates Stadium for the second leg of the last-16 tie.
Benitez firm over Aquilani
Rafa Benitez insists that Liverpool midfielder Alberto Aquilani will be picked when he thinks it is right.
The Liverpool boss splashed out £20million on the Italian international, who was heralded as the big-name replacement for Xabi Alonso after he was sold to Real Madrid.
Aquilani, though, has played less than 10 games for the Reds, mainly due to injury, but now fully fit he is still not holding down a regular first-team berth.
"When you have been injured for a while, it's not easy for a player," said Benitez.
"Then when you are available and the team isn't doing well, it makes it even more difficult.
"You have to decide if you can afford to give him two or three games when you know he's maybe not at the level he could be, so you could end up losing some of them.
"Alberto isn't stupid. He knows the priority now has to be the team and what's best for that. All he can do is keep training and making sure he is ready when we need him."
Benitez dismissed claims that Aquilani did not play in the recent game at Wolves because of their pitch.
"When I didn't play him at Wolves, it wasn't to do with the state of their pitch," he continued.
"It was because of the kind of game and because others were available, which meant we could manage in a different way. So whether I play him at Wigan or not isn't a decision that will be determined by the pitch.
"But we have had a conversation about things and he knows the situation. Alberto is a very good professional, who was a big name in Italy, and he wants to show his quality here.
"When you're like that but cannot play for three or four months and then you're available but can't play because the team is maybe doing really well or has problems, it's a difficult situation for any professional."
Speaking in Italy, Aquilani's agent insisted that the 25-year-old was still committed to his English switch.
"Alberto made a decision of a lifetime," said Franco Zavaglia.
"He is fine at Liverpool and next year will be the most important for him."
Motorsports News
Yvan Muller starts season with win
World Touring Car champions past and present shared the victories at the opening round of the new season in Curitiba.
Muller, who moved from SEAT to replace Nicola Larini at Chevrolet over the winter, immediately stamped his authority on new team-mates Rob Huff and Alain Menu by taking the opening race of the season in style.
A heavy downpour meant the first race of 2010 began behind the safety car but after two laps at reduced speed, the pace-setter pulled into the pits to signal the start of the race in earnest.
Pole-sitter Muller benefited from a clear track at the front to consolidate a lead he never looked in danger of losing, while behind Huff and Menu settled into formation after the early challenge of Jordi Gene ended when the Spaniard twice ran wide.
Tarquini also ran wide at the first corner but recovered to take fourth place at the flag, while the BMWs of Andy Priaulx and Augusto Farfus completed the top six.
Gene recovered from his dramas to take seventh while Tom Coronel took eighth and pole for race two.
With the earlier rain replaced by brilliant sunshine, the drivers might have been forgiven for expecting an easier time of it in the day's second race, but Coronel dispelled any such thoughts as he disappeared into the turn one gravel trap after tangling with Huff.
That handed the lead to SR-Sport driver Gene, but the Spaniard's advantage lasted until only lap three before team-mate Tarquini swept through the Esse de Baixa on the inside line to hit the front.
The leading pair would remain unchanged to the flag by which time they had build up a five second lead over the chasing pack, led by Menu who claimed his second podium of the day.
Muller took fourth from Huth as the Chevrolets again finished in in close formation.
British driver Priaulx was forced to retire after making contact with Farfus, who recovered to take sixth at the flag from Tiago Monteiro.
Muller and Tarquini leave Brazil locked in a tie for the lead of the championship on 37 points apiece, while Menu's consistent weekend sees him third in the standings, seven points further back.
Loeb lands first win of the season
Sebastien Loeb claimed his first victory of the season as he eased home ahead of his rivals on the final leg of the Mexico Rally.
The reigning six-time champion did all the hard work yesterday as he built up a lead of almost a minute, meaning the Frenchman just had to keep his Citroen C4 out of trouble over today's final three stages to claim the win by 24.2 seconds.
Loeb's victory moves him to the top of the drivers' standings at the expense of Ford's Mikko Hirvonen, who won the opener in Sweden but could manage just fourth place here after a weekend of struggle.
Privateer Citroen driver Petter Solberg, the rally leader after Friday's opening leg, held off the considerable challenge of Citroen Junior's Sebastien Ogier to take second place by just one second after a superb race-long duel.
Solberg finally made sure of second after finishing ahead of Ogier in the final super-special stage, by which point all bets were off over who would claim the overall victory.
"Finally a victory and back in the lead of the championship," said Loeb after his 55th world rally triumph.
"It was important after Sweden to win here. It's only the start of the championship but I'm really happy. We had a really good drive yesterday. Now it's looking good.
"I was just breezing through the last couple of stages trying to keep my concentration. It's a good victory; I'm back in the lead of the championship and the points we lost in Sweden we've won back - that's important."
With Loeb's victory widely anticipated, the real drama was spared for the battle for second.
With just 2.7 seconds separating Solberg and Ogier at the start of the day and the gap between the two remaining tight until the final stage, the pair were finally split by the the greater experience of former world champion Solberg, who finished the decisive super-special 1.7 seconds up on his rival.
"I'm delighted but absolutely exhausted," said Solberg. "It's a great feeling to be back on the podium."
Ogier, meanwhile, was left to rue his decision to drop time on Solberg yesterday in an effort to get a better starting slot on the road today.
"Of course it's disappointing but it's been a good weekend anyway," he said.
"My team told me not to push too hard today, so this morning I didn't push to the maximum. Maybe it's there that I lost out, or maybe yesterday when I slowed at the end of the stage.
"I think maybe we could have been faster than Petter if we wanted this weekend, but here we are third and it's a good result."
The top five was completed by Jari-Matti Latvala in the second factory Ford, while Henning Solberg (Stobart Ford) was sixth ahead of Federico Villagra, Xevi Pons, Martin Prokop and Armindo Araujo.
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