FIH Pro League: India suffers painful 3-2 loss to Spain

BHUBANESWAR: The India men's hockey team sunk to a painful 3-2 loss to Spain after a late winner from Marc Reyne in their second FIH Pro League match at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Sunday.

Eduard de Ignacio-Simo (16') and Marc Miralles (26') handed Spain a 2-0 lead but India fought back with captain Harmanpreet Singh (26') and Abhishek (54') making things even. Marc Reyne (56') scored a late winner for the visitors, as per Olympics.com.

The Indian team made a strong start but as the quarter progressed, Spain took control and became more likely contenders to take an early lead. Indian attackers, however, could not make inroads into the powerful Spain defence. The first quarter was goalless and Spain took the lead in the 16th minute. Simo scored the goal for Spain. PR Sreejesh was able to save a penalty corner but could not save the goal again on that stroke by Simo. Minutes later, it seemed that Jugraj Singh had scored the leveller but it was ruled out as it took a deflection off a Spanish player en route.

A drive from Marc Miralles proved to be extremely powerful for the Indian goalkeeper to stop and in the 26th minute, India's pain doubled. But India fought back with captain Harmanpreet converting a penalty corner into a goal in the same minute. His another attempt from the penalty corner was thwarted by Spain's Rafi Adrian, preventing India from making things even. The third quarter of the match went goalless. Spain dominated most of it and made some good chances while India was great in the final few minutes. But the teams could not score the fourth goal of the match. Heading into the final quarter, the scoreline read 2-1 in favour of Spain.

India headed into the final half with intentions to score and go all out. They did well to dominate the ball possession rate. Adrian denied India a couple of chances before Abhishek's powerful drive in the 54th minute made the scores level at 2-2.

India's joy, however, proved to be shortlived as Marc Reyne gave Spain back the lead with four minutes left on the clock.

India's next game in the league will be against New Zealand on November 4.