Times of India: Azlan Shah Cup: India lose 2-3 to Argentina in opener

NEW DELHI: India went down fighting against Argentina in their opening match of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup match at Ipoh in Malaysia on Saturday. The sixth-ranked Indian side lost the tie 2-3 to the World No. 2 Argentina.

Gonzalo Peillat scored a hat-trick for Argentina, while India’s two goals were scored by Amit Rohidas. All the five goals of the match came through penalty corners. Argentina converted three of the seven PCs they earned, whereas India scored two from the total of four PCs they got.

Just before the end of the first quarter, Peillat put Argentina in the front by converting a PC and doubled the lead in the 24th minute.

Two minutes later, Rohidas pulled one back as India went into the half-time break by a goal down.

Soon in the 31st minute, Rohidas drew the score level at 2-2 through another PC. But the parity did not last long as Peillat completed his hat-trick two minutes later to put Argentina back on lead.

The match was then suspended for almost 45 minutes due to thunder storm in the final quarter. And India failed to score the all-important equaliser when the match resumed as they played their final five minutes with a man down after Sumit was shown a yellow card.

India next play England on Sunday. The other teams taking part in the tournament are Australia, Ireland and Malaysia.

India are fielding a young team in the absence of key players like Akashdeep Singh, SV Sunil, Mandeep Singh, Manpreet Singh and goalkeeper PR Sreejesh. Drag-flick specialists Rupinder Pal Singh and Harmanpreet Singh too have been rested.