Paris Olympics: Harmanpreet winner secures thrilling 3-2 victory for men’s hockey team against New Zealand

HomeSports NewsParis Olympics: Harmanpreet winner secures thrilling 3-2 victory for men’s hockey team against New Zealand

The men’s hockey team has bagged the bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

By CNBCTV18.com July 28, 2024, 12:09:54 AM IST (Updated)

Indian men’s hockey team captain Harmanpreet Singh notched a late winner to help the Men in Blue notch a 3-2 victory against New Zealand in their first Pool B fixture in the Paris Olympics on Saturday. Sam Lane and Simon Child found the back of the net in the eighth and the 53rd minutes of the game respectively, whereas Mandeep Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, and Harmanpreet struck in the 24th, 34th, and 59th minutes of the encounter.

Congratulations #TeamIndia for the fantastic victory against New Zealand. Your hard work, dedication, and skill on the field have truly paid off.

Keep up the great momentum as you continue to make us proud.

#TeamIndia #OlympicHockey #proudmoment @TheHockeyIndia #Paris24… pic.twitter.com/ZQ2ChDUe7z

— Dilip Kumar Tirkey (@DilipTirkey) July 27, 2024

India started on the offensive with skipper Harmanpreet and Abhishek pressing hard on the New Zealand defence. New Zealand were initially content to sit back and defend. But it was New Zealand who stunned India by scoring the first goal of the match through Lane from their first penalty corner. Stunned by the early goal, India pressed hard and controlled the proceedings for most part of the match.

Catch the complete coverage of the Paris Olympics 2024 on CNBC-TV18

The Indians utilised both flanks to build their attacks with the Black Sticks contend on sitting back and defending while looking for counters. Contrary to the scoreline, India’s chief coach Craig Fulton might be a little worried about the team’s penalty corner conversion rate. India earned five penalty corners but converted just one, while New Zealand had nine set pieces utilising two of them.

India, though, drew level in the 24th minute through a penalty corner when Mandeep scored from a rebound after Harmanpreet’s flick was saved by New Zealand goalkeeper Dominic Dixon. Couple of minutes after the change of ends, Dixon saved Mandeep’s reverse shot from top of the circle after being fed by a precision assist from Harmanpreet.

FT:
India 🇮🇳 3️⃣ – 2️⃣ 🇳🇿 New Zealand

Mandeep Singh 24′
Vivek Sagar Prasad 34′
Harmanpreet Singh 59′ (PS)

Lane Same 8′ (PC)
Child Simon 53′ (PC)

Just the start we wanted in our first game of the group stage against New Zealand. 💪🏽
3 Points in the bag, One Win – One game… pic.twitter.com/XxBZr0MUGm

— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) July 27, 2024

Vivek scored from a goalmouth melee four minutes into the second half to hand India the lead. But within two minutes, New Zealand pressed hard on the Indian defence and secured four back-to-back penalty corners which yielded no result. Trailing, the Black Sticks kept up their attacking intent and secured two more penalty corner in quick succession, the second of which found back of the net after Child converted from a rebound to level the scores.

But that was not the end of the match as the Indians put on relentless pressure in search of a valuable win and in the process Sukhjeet Singh earned a penalty corner with his smart play, which resulted into another set-piece move. The second penalty corner turned on to a penalty stroke for India after the dragflick from Harmapreet hit Child on the body and the Indian skipper made no mistake in ensuring the vital win for his team.

India will next play the formidable Argentina in their next Pool B match on Monday.

(With PTI inputs)

First Published: 

Jul 28, 2024 12:08 AM

IST

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