Four Nations hockey: India beat hosts New Zealand 3-1 to enter final

Tauranga (New Zealand), January 20

A structured defence and clinical attack saw India beat hosts New Zealand 3-1 in the final round robin match of the double-leg Four Nations Invitational Hockey Tournament at Blake Park here on Saturday.

India will play the final on Sunday against Belgium, who beat Japan 4-1.

It was India’s young brigade Harmanpreet Singh (2’), Dilpreet Singh (12’) and Mandeep Singh (47’) who scored after the team had suffered a 0-2 loss against Belgium in their previous match.

India’s mantra today was to play aggressive and that’s exactly what they did right from the start.

Their first breakthrough came as early as the second minute of the match when a circle entry fetched them a PC created by Mandeep Singh.

It was Harmanpreet Singh who stepped up for the drag flick and he was impeccable and fierce as he improvised the injection to flick the ball past New Zealand goal keeper Richard Joyce. The early goal undoubtedly put the Black Sticks on the backfoot.

The next few minutes saw India hold their defence with Rupinder Pal Singh, who was rested for the match against Belgium, leading the charge of defenders as their man-to-man marking was spot on, not allowing New Zealand to make easy forays into India’s circle.

India colt Dilpreet Singh, who had scored two goals in his first outing for the national side, was impressive when he picked up the assist to put the ball past the New Zealand goal post in the 21^st minute, taking India’s lead to a comfortable 2-0.

India held on to the lead with a well-rounded performance. Though India conceded a PC in the 42^nd minute which was well-executed by New Zealand’s Kane Russell, India didn’t drop their momentum and continued their attack swiftly and tactically.

In the 47^th minute, Mandeep Singh was excellent in the circle to score an impressive goal to earn India a 3-1 score- line.

“We started the match much better today and I saw individual improvement. It’s important for the players to keep pushing themselves. I am particularly happy about today’s win because the team did a lot of analysing ahead of the match and their keenness to improve was evident,” said Chief Coach Sjoerd Marijne. PTI