The Indian women stole the show on the second day of the Olympic Qualifiers at the floodlit Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium tonight. Shrugging off their first-day nerves, the lasses found their scoring touch to fashion a rousing 4-1 win over lower ranked Canada and keep themselves on course for a place in the final. The hosts led 3-0 at half-time.
In a later match, the male equivalents of the ‘light blues’ playing in all white, expectedly did the ‘Italian job’ on the ‘Azzurri’, with drag flicker Sandeep Singh notching a hat-trick in their 8-1 win after leading 6-1 at the interval.
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The women, under pressure to earn their second Olympic berth after their insipid tie against Ukraine, rose to the occasion in the first half with a dazzling display against a determined opposition. Ironically, two of India’s goals came via indirect penalty corner routines with Soundarya Yendala and Sushila Chani sounding the boards. Four other PCs were spurned. In between, 17-year-old teenage sensation Rani Rampal cut in from the left along the base line and hit the target with a rasping shot.
Diminutive Canadian goalkeeper Azelia Lui kept down the margin with some critical saves. Ritu Rani was however unlucky to see her aerial shot kiss the top of the crossbar and go out of play three minutes before the break.
The second session saw complacency creeping into the Indian game and it allowed Canada to come back strongly. However, against the run of play Anuradha Devi, who had some good runs down the left flank, restored the confidence in the Indian camp with a stunning strike in the 48th minute that beat Lui all ends up. Hannah Haughn scored a consolation goal for Canada in the last minute after deftly lifting the ball over the Indian goalkeeper and bundling it in past a couple of defenders.
Centre-half Asunta Lakra, who had a hand in the first goal, again dished out a commanding performance. However, the inability of the forwards to find the target with more consistency could undermine India’s prospects in the long run.
South Africa top the women’s pool with six points after beating Ukraine 2-0 today in a hard fought encounter. Italy have four points along with India. Canada and Ukraine have one point each while Poland are yet to open their account.
In the men’s division, India rode on a hat-trick by drag flicker Sandeep Singh who opened the floodgates in the 5th minute and added two more in the 21st and 23rd minutes. V R Raghunath also got his name on the score sheet from India’s second PC award. Other scorers were the livewire S V Sunil (2), Gurvinder Singh Chandi and Shivendra Singh though the tally could have been larger if the shooters had been more on target.
Alessandro Nanni reduced the margin in the 15th minute from Italy’s first PC due to some sloppy defending by the Indians. Italy defended well and in numbers with goalkeeper Frederico Fredrici thwarting several threats to his citadel. India fielded Sreejesh in goal while Sardar Singh sported the armband after goalkeeper-skipper Bharat Chhetri was rested.
The good thing about today’s win was the success with penalty corner routines with the hosts converting four out of the five awards they earned. However, like the women, the intensity fizzled out in the second session.
Tomorrow is a rest day and the action will resume on Tuesday when the Indian women take on lowly Poland and the men square of with France for leadership of the pool.
Other results:
Women: Poland lost to Italy 1-4, South Africa beat Ukraine 2-0
Men:Canada lost to Poland 2-3, Singapore lost to France 0-9
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