India wins the practice match 2-1

First friendly international practice match was played on the Dhyan Chand Hockey Stadium turf on Tuesday. India was a happy side to return with a mild 2-1 win over the Pan American giant Argentina.

Both the teams played a cautious game, obviously teams would not want to press now, and risk injuries at this last movement. However, this practice was pacy and exciting to a large extent.

First half was goal-less, the only penalty corner gained by the Indian team was executed by Sandeep Singh, but the Argentinean goalkeeper saved it beautifully.

Second half was played a bit faster; Indians gained another two penalty corners out of increased pace. Sandeep Singh this time did not disappoint, converting it to give India the lead 1-0.

Immediately an Argentinean striker equalized through a field goal.

India’s second goal was scored by Rajpal Singh. Argentina missed two penalty corners thereafter pushing the ball wide on both occasions.

Netherlands, South Africa, New Zealand and Pakistan too had an outing on the turf, testing the newly laid pitches 1 and 2. Spain was scheduled to practice, but could not come due to flight cancellation.

Tomorrow all the 12 participating teams will be having training on both the pitches.
Three practice matches are scheduled. First will be between Netherlands and South Africa; Spain Vs New Zealand, and the last involving Australia and Canada.

Narendra Batra, Jagbir Singh, A.K.Bansal, and Shakeel Qureshi were among those watching the match.