Tokyo: Following a 1-7 loss against Australia, the Indian men’s hockey team bounced back in style as they outclassed Spain 3-0 in their third Pool A match at the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday. Rupinder Pal Singh (15th, 51st) and Simranjeet Singh (14th) were on the scoresheet for India while PR Sreejesh ensured a clean sheet to bring India’s Olympics campaign back on track.
The encounter will also be a memorable one for the Odisha duo of Birendra Lakra and Amit Rohidas who made their 200th and 100th appearances in the blue jersey. What an occasion to reach such milestones!
India started off in an aggressive manner with a structured attack and dominated the possession in the early minutes. The Men in Blue made their moves in the opposition half creating potential goalscoring opportunities, but the Spanish goalkeeper Francisco Cortes was alert on all the occasions to avert any danger.
#Odisha lads Birendra Lakra and Amit Rohidas played their 200th and 100th match respectively against Spain today at #Tokyo2020.
Congratulations boys on achieving this milestone. More to come! 👏👏#Cheer4India #Olympics #Hockey pic.twitter.com/fzWH59TFqP
— Odisha Sports (@sports_odisha) July 27, 2021
Spain could have taken the lead in the 12th minute when they won a penalty corner but the Indian defence stood tall to deny them. The World No.4 side drew the first blood two minutes later when Simranjeet received a lethal pass from the right flank to slot it home from close range.
India didn’t take much time to double the lead as they won back-to-back penalty corners in the next minute, which resulted in a penalty stroke. Rupinder, who had scored in the opener, converted to double the lead at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter was completely dominated by the Spanish Armada earning a couple of penalty corners in the process but was denied by the ‘Wall’ Sreejesh. While he made a perfect save to a penalty corner in the 17th minute, the 35-year-old custodian denied David Alegre from a narrow angle. He was once again in action saving another PC in the 24th minute.
Simranjeet….that was neat! 🙌🏑#IND’s first goal against #ESP in their third #Hockey pool match put the team in a stylish early lead. 👏#BestOfTokyo | #Tokyo2020 | #StrongerTogether | #UnitedByEmotion pic.twitter.com/3EifN5gNAt
— #Tokyo2020 for India (@Tokyo2020hi) July 27, 2021
The third quarter saw both teams fight for possession and though Spain displayed a better attack with Xavier Lleonart and David Alegre penetrating India’s circle, the Indian defence continued to remain resolute.
Spain did find the back of the net towards the end of the third quarter but only after the sound of the hooter. The Indians went into full-fledged defending in the initial minutes of the final quarter. Rupinder made it 3-0 for Indian when he converted from a PC nine minutes from time.
Spain had a chance to come back into the game when they earned three penalty corners in a row in the 53rd minute but again failed to convert it. They once again got a PC four minutes later. However, Sreejesh yet again stood like a rock under the bar ensuring India go home with three more valuable points.
“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 the PC,” India coach Graham Reid said after the game.
“I think 2-0 is the worse score in hockey because after that we were relaxed and we struggled a bit in the second and third quarter to get back in the game. We managed to do that in the fourth quarter and tried to play simple hockey and that’s what we ended up doing,” he added. India take on defending champions Argentina next on July 29.
