Indian women suffer third loss on trot

UTRECHT, May 23: India crashed to her third defeat and yet again cruel luck seemed to plague them as they went down 1-2 to New Zealand in Po...

UTRECHT, May 23: India crashed to her third defeat and yet again cruel luck seemed to plague them as they went down 1-2 to New Zealand in Pool B of the women’s World Cup hockey tournament here on Saturday. India should have draw the game at the minimum, but Chinese umpire Youfang Hu denied a clear goal when she ordered the game to continue after the ball had rolled crossed the goalline off Sita Goosein’s stick.

Nevertheless, it was yet another impressive performance from the Indians as they fought back after trailing by two goals. A few close misses denied them a couple of goals and had to console themselves that they were defeated but not disgraced.

The Kiwis held the upper hand when Tina Bell-Kake put home a Mandy Smith pass in the ninth minute and then made an indirect penalty corner conversion in the 16th for a 2-0 lead. At this juncture, India changed their goalkeeper Helen Mary for Tingon Leima Chanu, a move that helped the team to remain in contention. The gutsy Tingon brought off several goodsaves.

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Despite the early reverses, the Indians did not give up and narrowed the lead six minutes into the second session as Manjinder Kaur scored off a Nidhi Khullar pass. Thereafter, try as they did, the equaliser eluded them and to top it, found themselves at the wrong end of the stick with umpire Hu’s decision to disallow a goal.

The Kiwis, thus, picked up their first points from three matches, while the Indians, out of reckoning for a knock-out berth, will be left to fight for lower positions, something that does not reflect on their performance.

THIRD WIN FOR ARGENTINA: Meanwhile, Argentina virtually assured themselves of a semi-final berth by posting their third victory as they beat England 4-2, in a well-fought Pool B match. England, thus, crashed to their second defeat in three outings.

Argentina, always slow to get started, once again fell in arrears as England opened the account with a fifth minute goal by Purdy Miller. However, Argentina hit back with two penalty corner conversionsby Maria Cecillia Rognoni (28th and 30th) for a half-time lead of 2-1.

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On resumption, England equalised when Jane Sixsmith found the boards from a penalty corner in the 43rd before Argentina clinched the issue with two late goals by Sofia Agnes Mackenzie (63rd) and Luciana Paula Aymar (66th).

Sunday’s fixtures (WOMEN – IST): Australia vs USA (2.35 p.m.), China vs Germany (3.35 p.m.) and South Africa vs Scotland (6.05 p.m.).