India beat Spain 3-0 in the men’s hockey Pool A match at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, on Tuesday. This victory comes after a huge 1-7 defeat at the hands of World No 1 Australia in their second Pool A match.

India’s Simranjeet Singh opened the scoring for India with a help of a beautifully crafted field goal in the 14th minute of the game.

His goal was followed by Rupinder Pal Singh‘s goal to give hosts a quick lead in their Pool A match. At half-time India enjoyed a healthy 2-0 lead against Spain and looked in solid form to win the match.

However, Spain kept on drilling but failed to penetrate the wall-like Indian defence. And at times when the wall was breached, the mighty PR Sreejesh kept the Spaniards at bay.

India’s lead was tripled by another Rupinder Pal Singh goal as Spain struggled to put one inside the Indian goal.

By virtue of this win, India recorded their second win out of their 3rd Pool A match.

Despite the win, India’s chief coach Graham Reid said the team needs to work upon a lot of grey areas, like conceding penalty corners, ahead of their remaining matches.

“Better result today, but a lot of things to work on from an improvement perspective. The fact that we gave too many corners, that’s always a concern when that happens. But the team did really well in terms of defending,” he said.

“The first quarter was played very well, we could move the ball really well and it was exactly what we planned to do. We struggled a bit in the second and third quarters,” the coach added.

Sreejesh said he is experienced enough to make a comeback after a forgettable outing against Australia the other day.

He also lauded the Indian defence, which withstood the tremendous pressure put up by the Spaniards.

“Goalkeepers are there to take pressure. I think, when you are experienced enough you will be able to manage the pressure and control the team,” he said.

“Against Australia it was very bad for the defence, but today they did a wonderful job. They did their job in the proper way and we came out with a clean sheet so that’s most important.

“…if you can forget the past match and bounce back to play a better game, that’s most important for a game like that at the Olympic Games.”

India had earlier defeated New Zealand 3-2 in their opening fixture on Saturday. And had lost the previous match 1-7 against Australia.

India face Argentina in their next Pool A match.