India, Pakistan in final

India crushed Egypt by eight goals to nothing in the semi-finals of the nine-nation Prime Minister's Gold Cup hockey tournament, in Dhaka, on Sunday.

In the final, on Tuesday, they will meet arch-rivals Pakistan, who got the better of Japan 5-3 in the later semi-final.

Star striker Dhanraj Pillay opened the account in the 15th minute for India, who led 4-0 at half-time. Baljit Singh Dhillon, Arjun Halappa and Deepak Thakur scored a brace each to give the Indians a huge victory. R Krishnan accounted for the other goal.

Pillay, who threatened the rival penalty area with alarming frequency, was declared the man-of-the-match. He opened the scoring in the 15th minute before Dhillon made it 2-0 five minutes later.

Goals by Halappa (25th minute) and Thakur (34th minute) within the next 15 minutes ensured a healthy 4-0 lead for India at the half-time.

Egypt tried counter-attacking in the second half but in vain as Dinesh Naik and Dilip Tirkey were unbeatable in the defence.

The Indians continued with their goal rampage, with Dhillon (41st), Thakur (45th), Halappa (67th) and Radhakrishnan (70th) taking the match beyond the Egyptians.

Penalty-corner specialist Sohail Abbas was Pakistan's hereo, slaming home three goals -- in the 8th,18th and 39th minutes.

Haider Hossain (15th) and Kashif Jawad (58th) were Pakistan's other scorers.

For Japan, Karuo Makoto (16th), Yamabori Takahiko (33rd and 40th) were the scorers.