Bhubaneswar: The Indian men’s hockey team recorded a 2-1 win over Spain in the FIH Pro League fixture on Sunday. The team had lost the first fixture of the tournament against Spain by 1-3 on Saturday despite taking lead through a strike from Sukhjeet Singh's goal.
However, on Sunday, the Indian team was playing brilliantly and they dominated the proceedings most part of the match and scored a couple of goals as Mandeep Singh (32nd minute) and Dilpreet Singh (39th) to help the Indian team bag three points. India will be up against Germany on Tuesday.
India shared more ball possession and created more chances in the first two quarters of the fixture but failed to capitalise on those chances to score a goal. The Men in Blue had their first chance of the game in the fifth minute when Mandeep got an opportunity inside the circle but the opposition goalkeeper thwarted his attempt. A few seconds before the end of the first quarter, India earned back-to-back penalty corner built Jugraj Singh failed to capitalise on the opportunity. India dominated possession and applied hard press in the first two quarters but wasn’t able to find the goalpost.
Two minutes after half time Mandeep scored from close range to give India a lead of one goal. Seven minutes later, Dilpreet extended the lead after a brilliant set-up by Mandeep and Gurjant Singh.
Spain tried to find a goal in the final minutes but the Indian team stood tall to evade the opponents and bounce back in the match.
