Last Updated on 28/07/2024 by wccexam Desk
The Indian men’s hockey team has made a great start to its campaign in the Paris Olympics 2024. On Saturday (July 27), India defeated New Zealand 3-2 in their first match of Pool-B. Mandeep Singh (24th minute), Vivek Sagar Prasad (34th minute) and captain Harmanpreet Singh (59th minute) scored goals for India. On the other hand, Sam Lane (8th minute) and Simon Child (53rd minute) scored goals for New Zealand. The Indian team, which won an Olympic medal after 41 years in Tokyo, will now play against Rio Olympic champion Argentina in the next match of Pool B on July 29 and the Indian team, which lost nine penalty corners in this match, will have to overcome this deficiency.
This is how the match of both the teams was
New Zealand had a great start in the match and took the lead in the 8th minute. On the other hand, India did not score any goal in the first quarter. In the 9th minute of the second quarter, Mandeep Singh scored a goal on the rebound to give India a draw. By halftime, both teams were tied at 1-1. In the third quarter, Vivek Sagar scored a goal for India to give India the lead. The last quarter was very exciting.
FT:
India 🇮🇳 3️⃣ – 2️⃣ 🇳🇿 New ZealandMandeep Singh 24′
Vivek Sagar Prasad 34′
Harmanpreet Singh 59′ (PS)Lane Same 8′ (PC)
Child Simon 53′ (PC)It was the kind of start we wanted in our first group stage match against New Zealand.
3 points in the bag, a win – a game… pic.twitter.com/XxBZr0MUGm— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) July 27, 2024
In this quarter, New Zealand got three consecutive penalty corners in the 52nd minute and Child scored the equaliser on the rebound of the third one, shocking the Indian camp. This was the 147th goal of Child, who has played 307 international matches so far. After this, India got a penalty stroke on the counter-attack in the 59th minute which Harmanpreet converted into a goal. In other matches of Pool B, Belgium defeated Ireland 2-0 and Australia defeated Argentina 1-0.
The Indian hockey team has been placed in Pool B. Apart from India, Pool B has New Zealand, Argentina, Ireland, Belgium and Australia. Pool A has Netherlands, Germany, Britain, Spain, South Africa and host country France. India should have no problem in winning the match against Ireland. But to win against Argentina, Belgium and Australia, it will have to give its best performance. The Indian team will face Argentina on July 29. Then India will face Ireland on July 30, Belgium on August 1 and Australia on August 2.
Indian Hockey Team for Paris Olympics 2024
Goalkeeper: P R Sreejesh.
Defender: Jarmanpreet Singh, Amit Rohidas, Harmanpreet Singh, Sumit, Sanjay.
Midfielder: Rajkumar Pal, Shamsher Singh, Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad.
Ahead: Abhishek, Sukhjeet Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Mandeep Singh, Gurjant Singh.
Alternate players : Neelkant Sharma, Jugaraj Singh, Krishna Bahadur Pathak.