India women register famous win over Argentina

ROTTERDAM: Gurjit Kaur scored a brace as the Indian women’s hockey team dished out a spirited performance to stun Olympic silver medallist Argentina 2-1 in the shoot-out after a 3-3 stalemate in regulation time in the first match of the double-leg FIH Pro League tie here on Saturday.

Gurjit’s (37th, 61st minute) two penalty corner conversions and Lalremsiami’s (4th) field strike cancelled out Agustina Gorzelany’s (22, 37th, 45th) hat-trick to take the match into the shoot-out.

In the shoot-out, Neha Goyal and Sonika scored for India, while Victoria Granatto was the lone scorer for reigning Pro League champion Argentina as the Savita Punia-led side registered a famous win and avenged its 1-2 defeat against the same opponent in the Tokyo Olympic semifinals.

The Indians started strongly in the match, dominating the early exchanges. India put pressure on the Argentina defence early on and secured a penalty corner in the third minute but Monika’s flick was saved by the opposition goalkeeper Belen Succi.

A minute later, India surged ahead through a brilliant field goal by Lalremsiami.

It was Deep Grace Ekka who created the chance with her defence-splitting pass from outside the circle and Lalremsiami dodged her marker to get a brilliant touch.

Six minutes into the second quarter, Argentina earned two quick penalty corners and Agustina Gorzelany scored after her flick went in after getting of deflection of Sushila Chanu’s stick.

India men go down to Netherlands

The Indian men’s hockey team produced a lion-hearted performance before going down 1-4 to leader the Netherlands in the shoot-out after both the sides were locked 2-2 at regulation time to virtually crash out of the title race of the FIH Pro League here on Saturday.

India is still placed third with 30 points from 15 games with just one match remaining. The Netherlands is leading the table with 33 points.