Paris, July 27: Skipper Harmanpreet Singh saved his best for the last as he scored the winner from the spot a minute from full time to hand India a 3-2 win against New Zealand in their opening Pool B match of the Paris Olympics here on Saturday.
Sam Lane (8th minute) and Simon Child (53rd) were the goal scorers for New Zealand, while Mandeep Singh (24th), Vivek Sagar Prasad (34th) and skipper Harmanpreet Singh (59th) struck for India.
India started on the offensive with skipper Harmanpreet and Abhsihek pressing hard on the New Zealand defence.
New Zealand were initially content to sit back and defend.But it was New Zealand who stunned India by scoring the first goal of the match through Lane from their first penalty corner.
Stunned by the early goal, India pressed hard and controlled the proceedings for most part of the match.
The Indians utilised both flanks to build their attacks with the Black Sticks contend on sitting back and defending while looking for counters.
Contrary to the scoreline, India’s chief coach Craig Fulton might be a little worried about the team’s penalty corner conversion rate.
India earned five penalty corners but converted just one, while New Zealand had nine set pieces utilising two of them.
India, though, drew level in the 24th minute through a penalty corner when Mandeep scored from a rebound after Harmanpreet’s flick was saved by New Zealand goalkeeper Dominic Dixon.
Couple of minutes after the change of ends, Dixon saved Mandeep’s reverse shot from top of the circle after being fed by a precision assist from Harmanpreet.
Vivek scored from a goalmouth melee four minutes into the second half to hand India the lead.
But within two minutes, New Zealand pressed hard on the Indian defence and secured four back-to-back penalty corners which yielded no result.Trailing, the Black Sticks kept up their attacking intent and secured two more penalty corner in quick succession, the second of which found back of the net after Child converted from a rebound to level the scores.But that was not the end of the match as the Indians put on relentless pressure in search of a valuable win and in the process Sukhjeet Singh earned a penalty corner with his smart play, which resulted into another set-piece move.
The second penalty corner turned on to a penalty stroke for India after the dragflick from Harmapreet hit Child on the body and the Indian skipper made no mistake in ensuring the vital win for his team.
India will next play the formidable Argentina in their next Pool B match on Monday.
The Indian men’s hockey team’s thrilling 3-2 victory over New Zealand in their opening Pool B match at the Paris Olympics has set a rousing tone for their campaign. The Indian team’s performance has already ignited hopes for a promising Olympic journey. (PTI)
