\n
Rotterdam, Jun 21 (PTI) The Indian women’s hockey team came from a goal down to beat USA 4-2 in its first match of the FIH Pro League double-header here on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Danielle Grega gave USA the lead in the 28th minute through a field effort before the Indians forced their way back into the match by scoring through Deep Grace Ekka (31st), Navneet Kaur (32nd) and Sonika (40th) to take a 3-1 lead.<\/p>\n
The Americans reduced the margin in the 45th minute through Natalie Konerth’s penalty corner conversion before Vandana Katariya sealed the game in India’s favour with a field goal in the 50th minute.<\/p>\n
India started on a positive note but it was USA who got the first chance in the form of a penalty corner in the 10th minute but squandered it.<\/p>\n
Soon the Indians had the first shot at the goal but Gurjit Kaur’s effort from a penalty corner missed the target.<\/p>\n
In the 22nd minute, USA secured back-to-back penalty corners but wasted both.<\/p>\n
Vandana’s twin efforts from field play in the 27th minute was defended well by USA but in the process India secured a penalty corner but to no avail.<\/p>\n
A minute later, USA broke the deadlock through Grega who steered the ball into the goal from an Erin Matson’s lofted pass from midfield, past Indian goalkeeper Bichu Devi Kharibam.<\/p>\n
Just 45 seconds into third quarter, India drew parity through Deep Grace’s penalty corner conversion before Navneet stunned the Americans with a brilliant field goal from Vandana’s pass after a fine build up from the right flank.<\/p>\n
The Indians had their chances in the form of penalty corners but wasted them.<\/p>\n
In the 39th minute, Bichu Devi made a brilliant save to deny the Americans.<\/p>\n
A minute later, Sonika extended India’s lead with a field goal, courtesy a defensive lapse from the Americans.<\/p>\n
USA did not give up and reduced the margin just at the stroke of the third quarter through a penalty corner conversion by Konerth.<\/p>\n
Five minutes into the fourth and final quarter, India reclaimed their two-goal advantage when Vandana scored with a fierce shot from the right.<\/p>\n
Thereafter, both the teams tried hard for goals, especially USA but they failed to breach the resolute Indian defence.<\/p>\n
India and USA will again face each other in the second match of the tie on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Argentina has already claimed the title, finishing with 42 points from 16 matches, while India, making their debut in the tournament, are placed third with 27 points from 13 games.<\/p>\n
\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rotterdam, Jun 21 (PTI) The Indian women’s hockey team came from a goal down to beat USA 4-2 in its first match of the FIH Pro League double-header here on Tuesday. Danielle Grega gave USA the lead in the 28th minute through a field effort before the Indians forced their way back into the match […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-193635","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193635\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}