FIH Hockey Pro League: India Secures 1-0 Victory over Formidable Australia

Rourkela (Odisha): The Indian women’s hockey team registered a narrow 1-0 victory over formidable Australia in the Rourkela leg of the Women’s FIH Pro League 2023-24, replicating their 1-0 win over Australia in the 2020 Olympics Quarter-Final clash, at the Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium here on Saturday.

Vandana Katariya, India's centre forward, scored the lone goal of the tightly-fought encounter from a penalty corner in the 34th minute to avenge the 3-0 defeat suffered against the same opponent in Bhubaneswar on February 7. Australia fought till the last minute of the match, putting the Indian team under immense pressure. The match saw some nervy moments with a penalty corner in the last seconds, but the Indian team managed to hold on to its lead and scripted an unforgettable victory over the mighty Aussies. Notably, this is the first victory for India against Australia after the Tokyo Olympics quarter-finals.

India raced down to the Australian circle twice, but Australia held their fort strong despite the constant bombardment of Indian players in the fourth quarter. However, the Kangaroos dominated the last five minutes, sending the ball inside D now and then, eyeing for an opportunity to score a goal or penalty corner.

The visitors came out intending to score an equaliser in the third quarter, playing an ultra-aggressive game, but the Indian defence saved two penalty corners to deny Australia a comeback. It should be the best quarters of hockey that the Savita Punia-led side must have played in this whole tournament where India went with a variation from the penalty corner as Navneet hit the shot towards Vandana, who dived to put it beyond the Australian goalkeeper, providing her side an edge with 1-0 lead.

However, India was lucky in the first quarter when the Australian shot hit the post before Gary Sommerville made an error on the baseline in the 16th minute, allowing taking the lead with a penalty corner declared by the on-field umpire, which India failed to convert. While no goal opportunity was created in the first quarter.

India lost five of their seven matches in the elite tournament. They suffered a 1-2 loss in their first encounter against China, then faced a heavy defeat against the Netherlands by 1-3 and were outplayed by Australia 0-3. However, Savita Punia-led side managed to secure their first win against the lacklustre United States by 3-1 in their last match of the Bhubaneswar leg. After taking the lead early in the game, India failed to hold on to it and faced a heartbreaking defeat against the Chinese side in the Rourkela leg, which bounced back strongly to clinch a 2-1 victory and then lost to the formidable Netherlands side by 0-1.

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