Tokyo Olympics: India gets off to a winning start in men’s hockey, beating New Zealand 3-2

Goals from vice-captain Harmanpreet Singh and Rupinder Pal Singh and a series of big saves from PR Srijesh at the end of the first quarter helped the Indian men’s hockey team to win 3-2 over New Zealand in their first match at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. All three of India’s goals were scored from the penalty spot: Harmanpreet scored twice and Rupinder hit one goal.

New Zealand took the lead in the sixth minute as Kane Russell scored through a penalty corner. Rupinder equalised for India four minutes later through a penalty corner after which it was chances galore at both ends. It was a frantic end to the first quarter with New Zealand getting four back-to-back PCs. India defended all of them and the last resulted in a counter attack, at the end of which Gurjant Singh’s shot was saved by the New Zealand goalkeeper.

It was a comparatively quiet start to the second quarter. India had better control and Harmanpreet scored from a penalty corner to give them the lead in the 26th minute. He scored soon after the start of the third as well to give India a 3-1 lead.

India were dominant for much of that quarter but slacked off towards the end of it. New Zealand capitalised on that and Nick Wilson’s pass from the right flank caused chaos in front of the Indian goal. The ball trickled in and the goal was credited to Stephen Jennes, although it was unclear who got the last touch before the ball went past the line but New Zealand managed to cut India’s lead down to one goal in the 43rd minute.

It all set up a nervy fourth quarter in which both teams shared nearly equal possession of the ball. With just over four minutes left on the clock, Lalit Upadhyay managed to get a shot on target after a lovely piece of skill that helped him dodge two players but it was saved by the New Zealand goalkeeper.

Shortly after that, New Zealand won a penalty corner that was blocked by Manpreet Singh. The umpire gave another penalty corner but the Indian captain referred the decision. Replays showed that the ball had hit Manpreet’s stick. However, there was no advice possible on whether the ball bouncing off Manpreet’s stick led to dangerous play which meant that New Zealand got another penalty corner.

This led to three more PCs for New Zealand and Sreejesh saved two of them. India managed to get the ball out at the end of the third and ran down the final seconds of the match.