Saturday, August 26 2006 13:12 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Matale: India chokes under pressure to go down 3-2 to arch-rivals Pakistan and miss out on the gold in the men's hockey competition of the South Asian Games here Friday (25 Aug, 2006).

Coming into the game on the back of fluent victories in their league matches, including a 2-0 win over Pakistan, India are favored to win the contest without much ado but Clarence Lobo's boys completely lost the plot and had to be content with the silver.

In the play-off for the 3-4 places, Sri Lanka blanks Bangladesh 2-0 to claim the bronze.

The India-Pakistan final, one of the showpiece events of the otherwise lackluster Games, is another of those edge-of-the-seat thrillers associated with the traditional rivals.

Expert drag-flicker Imran Warsi stars for Pakistan, bagging a brace which he scores in the 37th and 43rd minutes. For India, Sardara Singh (35th) and Vikram Kanth (60th) are the scorers.

The match, played at a packed Ekanayaka Stadium, sees both the teams start on an aggressive note.

Pakistan goes into the lead early when Shabbir Ahmed beats Indian goalkeeper P R Sreejesh in the 5th minute.

The goal serves as a rude awakening to the Indian team, comprising mainly under-21 players, and they go all out for the equalizer.

India gets the all important goal in the 35th minute when Sardara finds the net to ensure the teams go into the half-time locked 1-1.