Sardar Singh’s India showed glimpses of brave fight but it did not prevent the mighty Australia walking away with an impressive 4-2 win at Glasgow
Scotland, 29 July 2014: Sardar Singh led Indian Men Hockey team today gave a tough fight to Australia in their third match of the XX Commonwealth Games played at Glasgow, Scotland today. It was Australia who scored the first goal in the 15th minute through a penalty corner converted by Chris Ciriello. While India immediately came on the attack, in the 17th minute Simon Orchard helped Australia take the lead further. This did not dent the spirit of the Indian team as they fought back and created scoring opportunities.
Though the fight was good by the Indian team, Australia managed to score their 3rd goal in the 27th minute through a field goal scored by Jacob Whetton. Sardar and company took it on themselves to attack and not allow the goal margin to increase further. Just before going into the break, the Indian team finally broke through the shackles of Australia and in the 35th minute Rupinder Pal Singh successfully converted the penalty corner that the team earned. Going into the break Australia led 3-1.
The second half saw the Indian team making a strong comeback with the intent clear by India, to fight back and score the first goal. In the 49th minute, it was Ramandeep Singh who scored a brilliant field goal which took the tally to 2-3. India from here knew they had to equalize the game, however Australia managed to score in the 51st minute yet again through a penalty corner converted by Chris Ciriello.
While India showed spells of brilliance, they were unable to score further and the game ended with Australia winning it by 4-2.