Five-goal Sandeep gets India to Olympics

They did so with an emphatic 8-1 win over France in the men s final of the qualifying tournament on Sunday. Penalty-corner specialist Sandeep Singh was India s star of the night, scoring five goals (19th minute, 26th, 38th, 49th, 51st) and his second hat-trick against France. The other Indian scorers were Birendra Lakra (17th), S. V. Sunil (43rd) and V. R. Raghunath (56th). France, who made their last Olympic appearance in 1972 at Munich, found the target through Simon Martin-Brisac (24th). India, winners of a record eight Olympic men s titles who failed to make it to the 2008 Beijing Games for the first time since their maiden appearance in 1928, took some time to translate their superiority into goals. Manpreet Singh made a good attempt from top of the striking circle in the 16th minute but his reverse-hit was saved by French goalkeeper Matthias Dierckens. India kept pressure on the French goal and struck twice in quick succession, with Lakra scoring off a Manpreet cross and then Sandeep converting a penalty-corner. France, who lost 6-2 to India in a league match, looked impressive in patches and made it 2-1 when Martin-Brisac deflected in a Sebastien Jean-Jean shot to surprise Indian goalkeeper P. R. Sreejesh. There was no stopping India after that as they pumped in six more goals, with Sandeep scoring four and Sunil and Raghunath one apiece. In other men s matches, captain Ken Pereira scored two goals as Canada downed Poland 4-3 to finish third. Rob Short and Matthew Guest were the other scorers. Artur Mikula, Szymon Oszyjczyk and Bartosz Zywiczka found the mark for Paland. Italy finished fifth with an easy 5-0 victory over Singapore, with Ignacio Salas twice finding the target. Daniele Malta, Andrea Corsi and Agustin Nunez were the other scorers. Two more men s qualifiers will be decided after tournaments in Dublin and the Japanese city of Kakamigahara. Those who have been given a direct entry to the Olympics are defending champions Germany, hosts Britain, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa.