Profligate Indians overcome Kiwis

NEW DELHI: They fought hard. They fought with guts. The spirited display saw the Indian girls beat New Zealand 3-2 in their opening match of the four-nation U-21 Lal Bahadur Shastri hockey tournament at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium on Tuesday.

The Indian girls won despite missing out on scoring goals on a number of occasions – in both the halves. In a see-saw battle, the Indians took the lead thrice during the match and the Kiwis bounced back to level the score two times. The winner for India came just two minutes before the final hooter.

The scorers for India were ‘player of the match’ Anupa Barla (8th minute), Anju Dhiman (13) and skipper Poonam Rani (68th). Sian Fremaux (12th) and Tara Hall (43) hit home for the Kiwis.

In another match, the tournament opener, Germany overcame a valiant Australia 3-1. Rebecca Grote (3rd), Marilena Kraub (46th) and Lisa-Marie Keim (70th) scored for the winners while Australia’s lone strike came through Hayley Padget (41st minute).

Cheered by a handful of crowd, the home girls dominated for the better part of the match against New Zealand, but they would have to work on certain aspects of their game to have a chance of beating the likes of Germany and Australia.

The team created a number of chances, especially in the second half but failed to convert most of them into goals. Towards the dying stage of the match, after Poonam scored from a penalty corner, the Kiwis upped the ante seeking an equaliser. They exploited the chinks in the Indian defence to create a couple of scoring opportunities but were denied by some impressive work by goalkeeper VRK Sukmani.

“We have an important match coming up tomorrow, against Australia. We have to work on certain areas against them. But we are confident that we will do well in the tournament,” coach BK Subramani said after the match.