Chinglensana, Kothajit help India men's hockey team beat Argentina 2-1
Source: The Sangai Express / TNN
Rio De Janeiro, August 09 2016:
India men's hockey team
defeated Argentina 2-1 in their
third Pool B encounter at the
Olympic Hockey Centre on
Tuesday to climb to joint top
with Germany in the standings
with two wins to their name.
Manipur's Chinglensana
Kangujam scored the opening
goal for India in the eighth
minute and the lead was dou-
bled in the third quarter by
another Manipuri player -
Kothajit Khadangbam.
Similar to their second
game against Germany on
Monday, in which India fal-
tered and conceded a last-gasp
goal to concede the game, the
VR Raghunath-led team
played a jittery final quarter
with Argentina reducing the
deficit via penalty corner goal
by Gonzalo Peillet early in
Q4.With less than eight min-
utes to go, Argentina earned a
barrage of penalty corners but
India goalkeeper PR Sreejesh
made three crucial saves to
deny drag-flick specialist
Peillet.
India just about man-
aged to stave off Argentina to
register a close win.
This is
the first time India have beaten
Argentina since 2009.
India started the match
aggressively and earned their
first penalty corner of the
match in the 7th minute when
defender Ramandeep Singh
hit the leg of an Argentinean
defender inside the circle.
Rupinder Pal Singh's flick
was blocked, but in the next
minute India got their second
PC and this time
Chinglensana found the net to
hand India 1-0 lead in the first
quarter.
India got lucky in the dy-
ing minutes of the first
quarter, when Argentina were
denied by the post.
In the next quarter, Argen-
tina looked in better rhythm
and were on the charge.
While India dominated the
play in Q1, the lion's share of
possession in Q2 was en-
joyed by their opponent.
Argentina got close to a goal
in Q2 but a fantastic block by
Sreejesh helped India main-
tain their one goal advantage
going in to the long break.
In
the third, India got the better
of Argentina and Kothajit
Khadangbam doubled the lead
scoring a field goal five min-
utes in to the third quarter.
In the final quarter Argen-
tina clawed their way back
into the game and dominated
the proceedings.
Their sus-
tained pressure inside the D
led to as many as four penalty
corners, but Sreejesh put
aside his disappointment of
conceding a goal against Ger-
many with three seconds left
on the clock, with three bril-
liant saves to keep India
ahead.