12th South Asian Games: Indian Men go down 2-1 to arch rivals Pakistan; Women defeat Srilanka

8th February, 2016, Guwahati: Hockey men’s event witnessed encounter between India and Pakistan in Moullana MD. Tayabullah Hockey Stadium, Bhetapara, Guwahati, Assam in which the latter came out victorious by 2-1. The win in the match takes Pakistan to top of the points table in the pool stage.

The Pakistan team started the match in an attacking manner putting the young Indian team on the defence in the initial moments of the game. The attacking play was duly rewarded in the 11th minute for the Pakistan team with a goal from Arslan Muhammad Qadir who scored a field goal to put the team in the lead. The Indian team regrouped and started pressing hard in order to get the equalising goal but the Pakistan defense held strong to keep the Indian attackers at bay. The first half ended with Pakistan leading by 1-0.

The start of the second half increased the problems for the Indian team. Arslan Muhammad Qadir again found a loop hole in the Indian defense within to score the second goal for Pakistan within 2 minutes of the second half. The Indian team 2 goals behind pressed hard to close the gap. The breakthrough came from the Indian Captain in the Mandeep Antil in the 53rd minute to reduce the goal deficit to 1 goal. India made numerous attacking moves but none of them converted into a goal. The match ended with a win for Pakistan by 2-1.

Indian Men will play their next match against Sri Lanka on 10th February, 2016 in a must win match.

Indian Women’s hockey team continued their winning run defeating Sri Lanka 12-1 in their second encounter of SAF Games. The 12th South Asian Games which are being hosted in Guwahati, Assam will see the Indian men’s and women’s hockey teams in action from 7th – 12th February 2016.

India started on an attacking note and scored early in the 4th minute through a field goal from Rani, giving the hosts a 1-0 lead in the match. The Indian eves kept pressing hard, pushing into the opponents circle often. Their circle penetration was soon rewarded with a penalty corner, which was duly converted by Jaspreet Kaur in the 8th minute giving India a 2-0 lead.

The Sri Lankan defence seemed helpless against the Indian attack, which extended their lead in the game by another four consecutive field goals in the 13th, 14th, 19th and 27th minute through Sonika, Soundarya Yendala (14th and 27th) and Jyoti Gupta respectively. The Indian eve added on to the damage for the Sri Lankans with another penalty conversion in 32nd minute from Jaspreet Kaur taking the score to 7-0 in their favour at the end of the first half.

The second half began with the Sri Lankan girls trying hard to stop the Indian forwards from penetrating into their circle, but their efforts failed as Jaspreet Kaur struck a field goal in the 38th minute and followed it up with a penalty stroke conversion in the 42nd minute taking the Indian goal tally to 9 goals in the match.

Vice-Captain Deepika added to the Sri Lankan woes scoring another field goal in the 47th minute taking the score to 10-0 in India’s favour. Jaspreet Kaur was in unstoppable form today as she scored her fifth goal of the day in the 57th minute through a penalty corner, taking the score board to 11-0 in India’s favour.

The Sri Lankan’s were trying hard to keep possession of the ball and were lucky enough to get a solitary field goal to their kitty through P.A.C.D Premasiri in the 58th minute. The Indian girls finished the match with another penalty corner conversion from Gurji Kaur in the 65th minute. The match came to an end with India winning the match 12-1 against Sri Lanka.

Indian women team now leads the points table with six points to their kitty and will take on the winner from tomorrow’s round robin match between Sri Lanka and Nepal in the gold medal match on 11th February 2016.