Hockey World League: Gritty Ireland make Indians struggle

By Ritu Sejwal, TNN

NEW DELHI: The Indian men were stretched to the limit and they struggled to overcome a fighting Ireland 3-2 in their Hero Hockey World League match at the National Stadium on Thursday.

Rupinder Pal Singh, ‘man of the match’ Dharamvir Singh and VR Raghunath were the scorers for India while Eugene Magee and Conor Harte scored for Ireland.

Ireland played a compact game, denying the men in blue early success. It took India 15 minutes to breach the Irish defence when Rupinder scored through a penalty corner.

Ireland hit back to earn three penalty corners in succession and equalised when Harte converted the third PC.

Both teams returned stronger in the second half and it was India who edged ahead when Raghunath converted a penalty corner. The hosts could have gone scored another soon as captain Sardar Singh launched a counter-attack but the forwards failed to capitalise.

It was a midfield tussle for possession from there on and Ireland once again equalised as Magee caught the Indian defence napping.

Stung, the Indians stepped up the attacks and found the lead once again (56th minute). Young Mandeep Singh dribbled his way into the Irish circle and found Dharamvir who slammed it home. Minutes later SV Sunil got past three and shot at the goal but was denied by the goalkeeper.

Ireland forced three penalty corners in the dying minutes but failed to make them count. “We should have scored more. Ireland play a set pattern. We need to work on our finishing,” India coach Michael Nobbs said.

China beat Fiji 4-1 while Bangladesh defeated Oman 4-1.

Women blank Fiji 10-0

Indian women blanked a much lower-ranked Fiji 10-0 in their second round match. The Indians scored in the seventh minute when Soundarya Yendala deflected home a penalty corner. After that, goals kept coming regularly. Rani Rampal (22nd, 61st minute), Roselin Dung Dung (15th, 45th) and Jaspreet Kaur (59th, 69th) scored two goals each while Namita Toppo, Chanchan Devi and Navjot Kaur added a goal each.