Indian Express: Commonwealth Games 2018: India women’s hockey team go down 2-3 to Wales in opener

India women hockey team went down 2-3 in Group A clash to Wales on the first day of Commonwealth Games 2018 in Gold Coast.

India women hockey team went down 2-3 in Group A clash to Wales in one of the first performances by the country at the ongoing Commonwealth Games 2018 in Gold Coast on Thursday.

Chasing their first Commonwealth Games medal since 2006 when they won silver in Melbourne, the Indian women hockey team trailed for most of the clash, especially in the first 30 minutes.

The first match for India had a bad start when Wales’ Lisa Daley scored the opening goal in the seventh minute to take the lead. Sian French doubled the lead for the Welsh team in the 26th minute before Indian captain Rani Rampal scored the first goal for India in the 34th minute. The Indian side tried to turn the match in their favour as Nikki Pradhan added the second goal for the country to draw level. India, however, conceded one in the dying minutes of the match with a strike from Natasha Marke-Jones.

“We needed to be energetic and play for attacking hockey. We pushed higher up, started attacking more and pressed,” a disappointed Indian captain Rani Pampal said after the match.

The Indian women hockey team has finished on the fifth position in the last two editions of the Commonwealth Games. It was, however, not a bad start for India as P Gururaja won the country’s first medal (silver) of the Gold Coast event in the 56 kg weightlifting category.

Coach Harendra Singh was critical of the performance and said the side needed to be better at penalty corner conversion. “We conceded soft goals, which is concerning. We only had a 31 per cent conversion rate. We missed our chances despite having 50 per cent of our shots on goal. That’s mainly down to the Welsh goalkeeper Roseanne thomas who played superbly,” he added.

The women’s team had last won a Commonwealth Games gold in 2002 followed by a silver in 2006. India will take on Malaysia, who are No. 22 in the world, in their second group match on Friday.

“We need to make the most of our chances and score more goals, as we missed lots of shots. The pressure is on for the next few games, but we’re up to the challenge,” said Harendra.

India’s third match is against England, who are strong contenders for the gold medal. The team’s final Pool match will be against South Africa on April 10. Top two teams from each Pool will make it to the semifinals.