The Indian National Hockey team played their first match of the 2024 Paris Olympics on Saturday. Our men in blue played their first match of the group stage beating New Zealand 3-2 in what was a nail-biting match.
India started on the offensive with captain Harmanpreet and Abhishek leading the attack and forcing New Zealand to sit back and defend.
New Zealand took the lead in the eighth minute by scoring a goal through a penalty corner, the very first of many in the match. The goal was scored by Sam Lane.
The first quarter ended with New Zealand leading 1-0. The second quarter started with India pressing even harder on the offense.
India’s equalizer came in the twenty-fourth minute with a goal scored through a penalty corner by Mandeep Singh. The second quarter ended with the score tied at 1-1.
The third quarter saw India take a 2-1 lead with a goal scored by Vivek Sagar Prasad after the ball rebounded from a save by New Zealand’s goalkeeper Dominic Dixon.
The Black Sticks dominated the entire third quarter after conceding the second goal. India defended very well in the third quarter to maintain the lead with Sreejesh making some spectacular saves.
The fourth quarter started with India in the lead. New Zealand equalized in the fifty-third minute with a goal through a penalty corner scored by Simon Child.
India scored the winning goal in the fifty-ninth minute with a goal by Harmanpreet Singh through a penalty stroke.
New Zealand won nine penalty corners in the match out of which they scored in two whereas India won five penalty corners out of which they scored in one.
India surely needs to work on converting more of these penalty corners into goals.
The goalkeepers from both teams were the highlights of the match with a beautiful show of skill in front of the goal.
The Indian Hockey Team has had a good start to the campaign and they look forward to continuing this momentum as they prepare to face Argentina in their next match on 29th July.