Breda (The Netherlands), July 26:
India’s under-21women hockey team finished third at the Volvo Invitational tournament, following a penalty shoot out win against England, here today.
The two teams ended 1-1 after regulation time and then India’s goal-keeper Inderpreet Kaur emerged the star of the match as she thwarted all the attempts by the English players during the penalty shootout which helped India clinch the closely-fought match and the third position.
Gaining experience from their previous Pool match against England, the Indian eves played with surprise attacks along with closely-knit defence line. The Indians this time didn’t want to repeat their previous mistakes in the defence and were marking each player of their opponents.
India managed to earn a penalty corner in the first few minutes, but could not convert. However, with the continuous attacks, India’s forward Punam Barla sneaked in the opponent’s D and hit the ball into the goal-box to score the first goal of the match in the 31st minute.
With this early lead, the Indian Junior women team played with more confidence and kept-on attacking on their opponents’ side till the end of the first half.
The second half saw more aggression from the Indian side as they continued their attacking game. On the other side, England came with some better strategies and looked for opportunities to level the score.
After a few attempts, England earned three back-to-back penalty corners but all were thwarted by Indian defence led by goal-keeper Inderpreet.
The English players were playing hard to open their account and tried to keep the ball possession in their side. The match turned into a neck-to-neck battle as both players from both sides pushed themselves hard to score goals.
India earned another penalty corner but it was foiled by England custodian Amy Tennant. In the 68th minute, England managed to earn a penalty corner and skipper Hannah Martin successfully converted the equaliser. (PTI)
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