SALTA: India, leading 1-0 at the break, drew 2-2 with New Zealand in their opening Pool A game of the Champions Challenge hockey tournament.
Tushar Khanderkar (30th) and Shivendra Singh (51st) scored for India while the Kiwis replied through Dean Couzins (47th) and Andrew Hayward (58th) on Sunday.
In a hotly contested match, New Zealand were on the attack with a very active Ryan Archibald prompting the moves. However, the Indian defence was vigilant and never let the Kiwis really threaten with goalkeeper Adrian D’Souza, too, doing a fine job.
The game continued at a high pace with neither team able to grasp control of play. Phillip Burrows had a deflection from close range go inches wide and a hard shot crash on the post, but it were India who finally opened the scoring through Khandekar at the conclusion of a quick counter-attack that took the New Zealand defence off guard.
The Black Sticks besieged the Indian goal in the final minutes of the period but were kept at bay by an Indian defence solidly organized around Sardara Singh.
New Zealand started the second period on the same attacking note, but still could not manage to shake the Indian defence.
It finally took a penalty-stroke conversion in the 47th minute by Couzins to bring back New Zealand into the match. However, they had little time to rejoice, as Shivendra Singh nearly scored on the next attack. His deflection from close range hit the post, but he had a similar opportunity shortly after and this time made no mistake to beat Kyle Pontifex in the New Zealand goal.
The Kiwis were not down yet and tied once again when Hayward scored from a penalty corner. The final minutes of the game were intense, providing good entertainment for the crowd, but no more goals were scored.
In another Pool A match, Belgium edged past a fighting China 4-3, while Pakistan, with two penalty corners goals by veteran Sohail Abbas defeated Canada 2-1 with Wayne Fernandes scoring the lone goal for the vanquished in Pool B.
Later, Argentina carried too much firepower for South Africa and won 6-2 in Pool B as Pedro Ibarra scored thrice for the hosts.