SHARMILA, DEEP GRACE ON TARGET AS INDIAN WOMEN DRAW WITH ARGENTINA JRS

I. India 2 Argentina Jr. 2

Buenos Aires: The Indian women’s team eked out a 2-2 draw with Argentine juniors in their return to international action after a Covid-induced hiatus lasting a year.

Playing in Buenos Aires, India struck through Sharmila Devi in the 22^nd minute with Deep Grace Ekka adding another in the 31^st.

“It was a typical first match after a long gap. Playing a competitive side after a year takes time to get into the rhythm and we played 23 athletes to give them all a feeling of playing in a match after a long gap,” expressed chief coach Sjoerd Marijne.

India showed attacking intent from the start and forced two penalty corners in the eighth and ninth minutes but the Argentine defence was equal to the occasion.

But action switched to the other side of the pitch and the home side forced a penalty corner in the 11^th minute but goalkeeper Savita Punia proved agile and alert to ward off danger.

Sharmila drew first blood seven minutes into the second quarter but Paula Santamarina restored parity in the 28th minute. India, however, regained the lead a minute into the second half when Deep Grace Ekka converted a penalty corner.

The Indian women defended stoutly to preserve their hard-earned lead right through the third quarter and the visitors looked set to carry the momentum into the fourth and final session.

The Argentine girls, however, were not to be denied the equalizer for the second time in the encounter when Brisa Bruggesser stuck a fine goal in the 48th minute.

India, however, didn’t sit back and went all out to take the lead for the third time in the match but the home side’s defence stood firm – even at a penalty corner in the 53rd minute.

“We will need to build on our rhythm match-by-match. We will be thoroughly analyzing this match and the key will be to learn from the mistakes we made here and be ready for the next game,” Sjoerd added.

India will take on the Argentina junior team again on January 20 at 0230 hours IST.

II. Indian Jrs 5 Chile Jrs 2

Santiago (Chile), 18 January 2021: The colts produced a fantastic performance on Sunday evening to defeat the Chile Junior Women’s Hockey team 5-3 to mark a highly successful return to hockey memorable, here at the Prince of Wales Country Club. The Indian Junior eves were involved in a high-scoring encounter with India’s Beauty Dungdung (29′, 38′, 52′), Lalrindiki (14′) and Sangita Kumari (30′) scoring the goals. Chile’s goals were scored by Simone Avelli (10′), Paula Sanz (25′) and Fernanda Arrieta (49′).

The match started with the Chile Junior Team retaining most of the possession, and scoring in the 10th minute as Simone Avelli was on the end of a perfect pass to score the hosts’ opening goal. However, India struck back just 4 minutes later as Forward Lalrindiki found herself in the right spot at the right time to score the equalizer in the 14th minute.

The hosts were then presented with a glorious opportunity to restore their advantage as they were awarded a Penalty Corner in the 25th minute. It was Paula Sanz who stepped up to execute it, and was successful in doing so, thereby giving Chile a 2-1 lead. Despite the setback, India continued to fight back, and dominated proceedings in the latter stages of the 2nd quarter, and scored twice in two minutes to turn the game around.

First, it was Beauty Dungdung in the 29th minute who finished off a beautiful team move to make it 2-2, and then Sangita Kumari saw her shot hit the back of the goalposts, which made it 3-2 in India’s favour. The visitors then took control of the match in the last two quarters, keeping possession, and initiating swift attacking moves to build pressure on their opponents.

The pressure did finally pay off in the 38th minute as Beauty Dungdung added a second to her name, and India’s fourth goal. However, Chile’s Junior Eves made use of a Penalty Corner in the 49th minute to pull a goal back through Fernanda Arrieta, and make for a nervy finish to the game. But India’s young guns did not leave any room for a Chilean comeback, as they added a fifth goal to their tally in the 52nd minute through Beauty Dungdung, who completed a superb hat-trick of goals, and gave India a fairly comfortable 5-3 win in their opening match of the Tour of Chile.

The Indian Juniors will be in action again on Monday evening (locally) / early Tuesday morning (IST) int he second tests at 0400hrs IST.