Tokyo: The Indian men’s hockey team beat New Zealand 3-2 in their opening Pool A match to start their 2020 Tokyo Olympics campaign with a win.
New Zealand had a chance to make it 3-3 in the dying seconds when Kane Russell hit a shot towards the top left corner of the post off a penalty corner. Indian goalie Sreejesh executed a full-stretch dive to his right to deny New Zealand the equaliser. Moments later, he pulled off another remarkable save in open play.
Harmanpreet Singh (26th and 33rd minutes) scored a double for India, while Rupinder Pal Singh (10th) was the other goal-getter for the eight-time former champions, currently ranked fourth in the world.
For New Zealand, Kane Russell (6th minute) and Stephen Jenness (43rd minute) scored the goals.
India will next play mighty Australia on Sunday.
THE SQUADS:
India – P.R. Sreejesh, Manpreet Singh, Harmanpreet Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Surender Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Birendra Lakra, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Nilakanta Sharma, Sumit, Shamsher Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Gurjant Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Mandeep Singh.
New Zealand – Leon Hayward, Blair Tarrant, Hugo Inglis, Steve Edwards, Sean Findlay, Stephen Jenness, Sam Lane, Dane Lett, Shea McAleese, Jared Panchia, Nick Ross, Kane Russell, Jacob Smith, Dylan Thomas, Nick Wilson, Nic Woods.
