Mixed fortunes for hockey sides

The Indian men’s team lost their opening game to Australia 2-5, but beat South Africa with a late winner 2-1 and Wales 6-3. They meet New Zealand tomorrow for a place in the last four from Pool A.

The Indian girls played a gritty game against the Australians who have never lost a major tournament since 1992 when Olympian and legend Ric Charlesworth took over as coach.

In a fast-paced enjoyable match, the two teams exchanged attacks frequently but the Indians were just not able to score. A lot of openings were created by Kamala Dalal, Pritam Kaur and Sita Gussain but finishing was poor.

The Australian women were faster andstronger which gave them the edge. Michel Andrews put them ahead in the 10th minute, cracking home from a penalty corner. The Australian defence then kept a busy Indian attack at bay.

Centre-forward Katrina Powell made it 2-0 in the 12th minute taking the Indian defence by surprise and added another in the 23rd minute in similar fashion.

Crossing over 0-3 down, India’s efforts were overpowered by the Australians edge in possession. Sita Gussian drew Australian goalkeeper Justine Sowry, playing her 100th international, to a good save and from their fifth penalty corner, Kamala Dalal found the net but the goal was disallowed.

India’s Manjinder Kaur played with a broken cheek bone and Ferdina Ekka, who had a wrist injury, came in as the substitute in the 29th minute. Women’s hockey federation chief Amrit Bose said it was shameful that the team doctor had not been cleared to come with the team.

The men’s match against Trinidad and Tobago was a totally one-sided affair. Gagan Ajit Singh playing his firstmatch here slotted in one goal, skipper Dhanraj Pillay hammered in two, Baljit Singh Dhillon and Laxmanan Prabhakaran got two each through penalty corners and Selvaraj Thiruvelavan contributed one to bring up an easy win.

New Zealand, whom India meets tomorrow, has only been defeated by Australia 0-2 but the position in the group is tricky because South Africa beat Australia 3-2 in the pool.