Paris: On the strength of captain Harmanpreet Singh’s goal on a penalty stroke in the last minute, Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Indian team started its campaign in Paris with a thrilling 3-2 win over New Zealand on Saturday. After trailing by one goal, the Indian team made a great comeback and took the lead, but seven minutes before the final whistle, the New Zealand team equalized the score at 2-2. India got three penalty corners between the 57th and 58th minutes and a penalty stroke in the 59th minute, which Harmanpreet converted into a goal, spreading a wave of happiness among the Indian supporters who had come in large numbers at the Yves du Manoir Stadium.
India’s next match was against Argentina.
Sam Lane (eighth minute) scored the first goal for New Zealand and Simon Child (53rd) scored the second goal, while Mandeep Singh (24th minute), Vivek Sagar Prasad (34th minute) and Harmanpreet (59th minute) scored goals for India. The Indian team, which won an Olympic medal in Tokyo after 41 years, will now play against Rio Olympic champions Argentina in the next Pool B match on July 29 and the Indian team, which lost nine penalty corners in this match, will have to overcome this shortcoming.
New Zealand had scored the first goal
In the first quarter, the Indian team looked under pressure and the players made many simple mistakes. New Zealand also won in terms of ball control. However, India started aggressively and attacked the Kiwi goal twice in the first five minutes, but did not succeed. New Zealand scored a penalty corner in the eighth minute in a counter-attack and Sam Lane put the ball inside the goal by dodging the veteran PR Sreejesh, who was playing his fourth Olympics.
India equalized in the second half
. India had to play with 10 players from the 10th minute to the 15th minute when Gurjant Singh was shown a green card. The Indian team was lucky that the New Zealand team could not convert the continuous attacks into goals. In the second quarter, the Indian team looked completely changed and put New Zealand under pressure. India got its first penalty corner in the 24th minute through Sanjay, for whom this is an Olympic debut. Harmanpreet Singh’s shot was saved by the Kiwi goalkeeper but in the next minute India again got a penalty corner. Harmanpreet’s shot was saved, but Mandeep scored on the rebound to equalize the score for India.
India got a 2-1 lead
The score was tied at 1-1 till halftime. After the break, the Indian team came out with a very aggressive attitude and in the third minute, Mandeep gave a backhand pass from the circle, which was caught by Abhishek, but the positioning of Sukhjeet and Rajkumar Pal was not right, due to which the goal could not be scored. In the very next minute, India’s forward line attacked again and Mandeep handed the ball to Sukhjeet and the last stick was hit by Vivek, due to which India scored a beautiful field goal and took the lead.
India won in an exciting fourth quarter
In the fourth quarter, New Zealand got three consecutive penalty corners in the 52nd minute and on the rebound of the third, Child scored the equalizer, shocking the Indian camp. This was the 147th goal of Child, who has played 307 international matches so far. After this, India got a penalty stroke on the counter attack in the 59th minute, which Harmanpreet converted into a goal.
