Tokyo Olympics: Harmanpreet Singh, PR Sreejesh’s warrior-like effort ensure India winning start

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Indian custodian PR Sreejesh stood like a warrior to deny New Zealand a win. (Source: HI)

Tokyo: PR Sreejesh stood like a warrior while Harmanpreet Singh scored a brace as the India men’s hockey team made a winning start to Tokyo Olympics campaign beating New Zealand 3-2 in a Pool A encounter at the OI Hockey Stadium on Saturday. India will next play mighty Australia on Sunday.

Ranked fourth in the world, the Indians were shocked in the sixth minute when Kane Russell’s fierce shot from the penalty corner found the back of the net past Sreejesh. India did not sit back as Rupinder Pal Singh gave the Men in Blue the equaliser four minutes later, thanks to Mandeep Singh who earned a penalty stroke.

The Black Sticks were not to be left behind as they thwarted the Indian defence with repeated attacks securing four consecutive penalty corners but wasted all. India could have gone ahead in the first quarter itself had Gurjant Singh’s shot from a counter-attack not saved by New Zealand goalkeeper Leon Hayward.

India looked more dangerous in the second quarter creating a couple of chances soon after but it was not until the 26th minute Harmanpreet rose to the occasion. A good referral by India saw them win a PC which was brilliantly converted through a sensational set-piece with lightning speed.

The Indians kept on attacking after the change of ends with forwards Mandeep Singh and Dilpreet Singh working well in the frontline to create scoring opportunities. The strategy reaped fruit soon as India earned another PC three minutes into the third quarter.

As usual, Harmanpreet’s fantastic flick was too easy for the New Zealand defence to stop giving the Men in Blue a deserving 3-1 lead. The scoreline could have been 4-1 for India in the 36th minute but Hayward managed to put the Indians at bay.

The Indian defense was finally broken in the 43rd minute when Stephen Jenness scored a well-struck field goal with a good assist from Nick Wilson from the right flank.

The final quarter was tense with both teams keeping the tempo up despite soaring temperature in Tokyo which recorded 33 degrees on game day. Hayward once again denied Lalit Upadhyay three minutes from time before New Zealand attacked like a hungry lion in the final minutes of the game.

New Zealand earned three penalty corners in quick succession but Sreejesh stood like a wall to keep the opposition at bay. With just 24 seconds to go, New Zealand secured another penalty corner but once again the experienced Sreejesh came to India’s rescue.

“Winning three points in a competition like the Olympic Games is really important. I think we had a good second and third quarter but in the first and fourth we struggled a little bit. We did well in converting the PCs, but we need to look at reducing the numbers (of PCs) we were giving away,” India coach Graham Reid said after the match.

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