Indian women go down fighting to Australia in hockey

The visiting Indian women’s hockey team went down fighting to Australia 2-4 in its opening game of the tour down under  on Thursday.The Indian  team as a part of its preparation for the coming Asian Games in Hangzhou will play a series of Test matches against Australia besides two games against Australia A during the visit. All matches will be played in Adelaide.

The visiting girls played  their hearts out but went down 2-4 against  the home team in an exciting encounter.  For India Sangita Kumari (29’) and Sharmila Devi (40’) scored a goal each, while Australia found the back of the net through Aisling Utri (21’), Maddy Fitzpatrick (27’), Alice Arnott (32’), and Courtney Schonell (35’).

Australia got into its passing rhythm quickly and dominated India in the first quarter by keeping most of the possession and testing the visitors’ defence numerous times. The hosts also won three penalty corners in the opening quarter of the game but failed to capitalise on it as Indian team’s Captain and goalkeeper Savita along with the defence line stood strong to deny Australia from taking the lead.

However, in the second quarter, Australia netted two goals courtesy of its high tempo and attacking game. Aisling Utri (21’) scored a field goal after Courtney Schonell and Abigail Wilson combined well before the latter put in a cross across the goal for Utri to put the ball in India’s goal. Moments later, Maddy Fitzpatrick (27’) doubled the lead for the hosts as she converted a penalty corner.

Notably, India started playing aggressively after conceding the second goal and it paid off as Sangita Kumari (29’) found the back of the net after Nikki Pradhan’s shot from distance took a deflection off Fitzpatrick and Sangita found herself at perfect position to put the ball beyond Australia’s goalkeeper Jocelyn Bartram. The hosts went into the half-time break with the 2-1 lead.

The third quarter of the match started with Australia scoring a quick goal through Alice Arnott (32’), while Courtney Schonell (35’) netted the fourth goal for the hosts. However, India didn’t take much time to respond as forward Sharmila Devi (40’) converted a penalty corner before the third quarter came to a close 4-2 in favour of Australia.

The fourth and last quarter of the match ended goal-less even though both the teams came close to scoring a few times.