India win one, lose one

India staved off a late challenge from Argentina to win 3-2 in their final match of the four-nation invitation hockey ......

India staved off a late challenge from Argentina to win 3-2 in their final match of the four-nation invitation hockey tournament at Warsteiner Hockey Park here today. After Sandeep Singh, Rajpal Singh put the team 3-0 up, the South Americans fought back through goals by Ezequiel Paulon and Tomas McCormick in the last 10 minutes. Sandeep opened the account for India by converting the first penalty corner.

The Argentinians responded by launching a series of attacks, however, their efforts went in vain as they missed a couple of chances.

India, on the other hand, did not missed many an opportunity and extended the lead soon after. Rajpal Singh put it past the Argentina goalkeeper after getting a nice pass from Tushar Khandekar.

The Indians initiated another attack on the left flank. But striker Tejbir Singh to get control of the final pass just in front of the D. The third goal was not far, though. After thwarting an Argentinian attempt to score, the Indians raided their opponents citadel.

An opportune Rajpal deflected a free hit from outside the striking circle to make it 3-0. India kept up their momentum with a couple of good moves led by captain Gagan Ajit Singh early in the second half. A few minutes later, Arjun Halappa missed out on golden chance to net the fourth goal for India.

Argentina got rewarded for their perseverance of the forwards. Just nine minutes before the final hooter, Paulon earned the first goal for them scoring off a rebound after Carlos Retegui8217;s stroke was held by goalkeeper Bharat Chetri. Chetri was unlucky once more after blocking a Retegui shot, only to see McCormick flicking the ball into the net.

Indian team manager GM Srivastava said they would have won the match with a bigger margin if they had not wasted a few more chances that came their way.

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In their second match yesterday, India conceded two late goals to lose 3-5 to Spain.

India displayed a superb fightback in the second half to level the score 3-3 after trailing 2-0 at the half-time.

But the defensive lapses cost them the match as the European champions pumped in two goals in the last seven minutes.