The Indian men’s hockey team beat New Zealand 3-2 in their opening Pool A match to start their 2020 Tokyo Olympics campaign with a win. Indian goalie PR Sreejesh parried off three New Zealand attempts in the final minutes of the game to give a positive start to the Indian team.
Harmanpreet Singh (26th and 33rd minutes) scored a double for India, while Rupinder Pal Singh (10th) was the other goal-getter for the eight-time former champions, currently ranked fourth in the world.
For New Zealand, Kane Russell (6th minute) and Stephen Jenness (43rd minute) scored the goals.
India will next play mighty Australia on Sunday.
India started the match with Rupinder rattling the Kiwi crossbar off a penalty corner. However, it was New Zealand who converted their chances as penalty corner expert Kane Russell put the ball right in the corner past Sreejesh inside 8 minutes.
However, India levelled at 1-1 as Rupinder found the back of the New Zealand goal by converting a penalty stroke.
The Indian goalie made a crucial save in the dying minutes of the first quarter as India held New Zealand to 1-1.
In the second quarter, India’s defenders started strong and didn’t allow the New Zealand players to penetrate and shoot for a goal. With five minutes to go, Harmanpreet converted a penalty corner to give his team a 2-0 lead.
The duo of Harmanpreet and Rupinder starred for India in the 3rd quarter as the former scored his second goal of the match by converting another penalty corner.
New Zealand, on the other hand, weren’t done and looked for opportunities to score. Stephen Jenness found the narrowest of angles to make it 2-3 for the team. The fourth quarter of the match saw both teams vying for a goal but did not see many efforts.
New Zealand got three penalty corner opportunities in the dying minutes of the game, giving them a chance to either win or draw the match. However, Sreejesh had other plans as he made solid saves to deny the opposition any more goals.
The Indian team is grouped together with Australia, Argentina, Spain and New Zealand in Group A.
Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain, Canada, and South Africa have been placed in Pool B.
The current league phase will take place till July 30. This will be followed by the quarterfinals and semifinals on August 1 and 3, respectively. The bronze medal and gold medal matches are scheduled for August 5.
