JOIN USIndia sink late again
India crashed to their second defeat in the men’s hockey World Cup by conceding a late goal yet again to go down 1-2 against England at the Kyocera Stadium here on Monday.
England prevailed through a 69th-minute penalty corner rebound conversion by Simon Mantell.
India had an equal run of play against England, and even saw a penalty stroke being cancelled, paving the way for England’s victory.
Ashley Jackson’s penalty corner shot was blocked by goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, but Mantell capitalised on the rebound by sending a diagonal reverse shot into the net to leave the Indian players crestfallen in the dying embers of the game.
India had lost their opening game against Belgium 2-3 after conceding a goal with seconds left.
England opened the scoring in the 26th minute through Mark Gleghorne’s penalty corner conversion, and India equalised through Dharamvir Singh in the 30th minute.
Australia, who on Monday defeated Spain 3-0, are on the top of the Group ‘A’ table with six points.
After being held to a 1-1 draw in their first game by Spain, England now have four points from two matches.
India had the run of the play at the start and forced their first penalty corner in the 11th minute, when the ball was carried by an England defender inside the circle. The foul was not noticed by the umpire, but India made a successful referral.
It led to penalty corners being awarded two more times before India wasted both the opportunities as the push was not stopped properly and Manpreet’s attempt to continue the attack saw the ball soar over the cross-bar.
India mounted another move on the counter, but Dharamvir’s cross could not be utilised by Akashdeep Singh in the 20th minute.
At the other end, Indian goalkeeper Sreejesh padded away a shot from Dan Fox. India then came close to scoring in the 23rd minute on another Dharamvir cross to Mandeep Singh, but he sent the cross high.
An unnecessary obstruction on the 25-yard line by Yuvraj Walmiki gave England their first penalty corner, which was converted by Mark Gleghorne with a rising shot. India equalised pretty quickly but England had the last laugh.
Results: Men: England: 2 (Mark Gleghorne 27th, Simon Mantell 69th) bt India: 1 (Dharamvir Singh 30th); Australia: 3 (Tim Deavin 2nd, Mark Knowles 10th, Kieran Govers 33rd) bt Spain: 0.
Women: Australia: 3 (Anna Flanagan 35th, 45th, Emily Smith 41st) bt Japan: 2 (Yuri Nagal 20th, Shiho Sakal 58th); Korea: 1 (Darae Kim 30th) bt New Zealand: 0.