indian hockey team defeated britain 4-2 in shootout in fih pro league

London: The Indian hockey team on Saturday earned a bonus point with a 4-2 penalty shootout win over Great Britain in their second leg of the FIH Pro League tie. The two teams were tied 4-4 in regular time. Captain Harmanpreet Singh (7th minute), Mandeep Singh (19th minute), Sukhjit Singh (28th minute) and Abhishek (50th) scored for India. Sam Ward was the star for the home side, scoring all the goals. He scored in the 8th, 40th, 47th and 53rd minutes.

India at number two in the table

The win earned India a bonus point but the team still remained second below Britain in the table. India has 24 points from 12 matches. United top the table with 26 points from 11 matches. The Indian team had earlier lost 2-4 to Great Britain in the first leg here but then went on to beat Belgium 5-1. The Indian team will now travel to Eindhoven to play the hosts Netherlands on June 7 in the Europe leg of their FIH Pro League campaign.

two goals in the first quarter

In this match, Great Britain started brightly and Phil Roper had the first shot on goal in the third minute but it was well saved by Indian goalkeeper Krishna Bahadur Pathak. Three minutes later United earned consecutive penalty corners and Pathak was again able to keep both efforts down. A minute later, Mandeep earned a penalty corner for India and skipper Harmanpreet’s dragflick stunned UK goalkeeper David Eames to take a 1-0 lead. However, the Indian team’s joy soon ended when Ward scored a penalty corner in the very next minute to level the scores at 1-1. United got another corner at the end of the first quarter but Nicolas Bandurak’s effort was unsuccessful.

Both teams continued to play fast in the second quarter. Mandeep put India ahead 2-1 after Hardik Singh’s brilliant effort. Three minutes before the end of the first half, United had another chance to score but Pathak again saved it. After two minutes of the first half, Sukhjeet scored a goal to make the score 3-1. Both the teams could not create a chance again till the 40th minute and India missed another penalty corner. Ward narrowed the gap with a powerful flick.

Both teams miss penalty corners

India missed too many penalty corners but the British team could not capitalize on the chances. Soon after the start of the final quarter, Harmanpreet’s effort was blocked by Shipperle. Ward then equalized with a field goal in the 47th minute. Britain dominated the final quarter but in the 50th minute, Abhishek scored a field goal on the counter-attack to give India a 4-3 lead. But Ward then scored his fourth goal to bring Britain on par. Manpreet Singh, Harmanpreet, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay and Abhishek scored for India in the shootout. Will Callanan scored the lone goal for United in five tries, while Zachary Wallace, Shipperley and Roper missed.

FIH Pro League: Indian hockey team did a big upset, defeated Olympic champion BelgiumFIH Pro League: Now the Indian hockey team lost to Great Britain, the British lost 2-4Junior Hockey Asia Cup: India’s youth brigade created history by winning the Junior Hockey Asia Cup