The Tribune: Hockey teams ace test event
Men beat NZ, women edge out Japan in finals
The Indian men’s hockey team won the Olympics Test event after beating New Zealand 5-0 here today .
Captain Harmanpreet Singh (7th minute) set the ball rolling before Shamsher Singh (18th), Nilakanta Sharma (22nd), Gursahibjit Singh (26th) and Mandeep Singh (27th) scored for India.
India had lost 1-2 to New Zealand earlier in round robin stage. “We played very well. We managed to score our opportunities at the start of the game,” Harmanpreet said. “I think the final was always going to be tough, we lost to New Zealand earlier. But we had been having practice sessions after that and worked on our mistakes to win today,” he added.
Women beat hosts 2-1
India won the women’s title with Navjot Kaur and Lalremsiami leading the side to a 2-1 win over Japan in the final. Navjot (11th minute) opened the scoring but the lead was neutralised within a minute as Minami Shimizu (12th) scored for the hosts. Lalremsiami (33th) struck the winning goal for India.