FIH Pro League: Indian lose to Great Britain

An inconsistent Indian men's hockey team lost 1-3 to hosts Great Britain in its second match of the London leg of the FIH Pro League on Sunday, a day after the Harmanpreet-led side stun world champions Germany 3-0.

Bandurak Nicholas scored a brace (2nd and 11th minute), both field goals, while Calnan Will struck the other goal for GBR in the 47th minute.

Abhishek was the lone goal-scorer for India as he struck from a field effort in the 35th minute.

India earned eight penalty corners but could not score any goal from them. GBR too couldn't convert any of their five PCs.

India are ranked third in FIH chart, a rung above Britain.

Backed by a boisterous home crowd, Britain came up with a high-voltage performance backed by a pacy attack. They were quick to put India on the backfoot

It was a fine counterattack that set-up Bandurak's goal in the second minute, making India scurry to recover. Both teams used every opportunity to attack in the following minutes.

To add to India's woes, Bandurak scored again in the 11th minute. Only minutes earlier, India had won their first PC but couldn't make much of the chance with Harmanpreet's drag-flick missing the target.

Going into the second quarter with a 0-2 deficit, India's search for an opening goal continued. They showed intent by controlling the possession while Hardik Singh and Mandeep made late charges in the circle. Abhishek too stood out in the forward line but they could come up with a successful pursuit on goal.

Coming into the third quarter after a 10-minute half time break, India looked for ways to halt Great Britain's high-intensity game. Minutes into the third quarter, Hardik launched a counterattack to make a circle entry but no real chance came from it.

In the following minute, Abhishek finally brought some respite to the Indian side with a brilliant reverse-hit goal in the 35th minute. He did well with good stick work to receive the long pass from the midfield and found the target.

Carrying on the momentum, Abhishek helped India win a PC in the next minute. But Harmanpreet's shot missed the target.

The following minutes saw India control the game while goalkeeper PR Sreejesh kept the goal deficit narrow with some fine saves. The final moments of an intense third quarter saw both teams trading PCs but neither could score.

However, Great Britain came up with a brilliant finish as they extended the lead in the 47th minute via Calnan.

Though India challenged the goal through a video referral, the third umpire ruled against the visiting side's appeal. There were a couple of PCs awarded to India but none were successful.

India will play Germany on June 8 in their next match at the same venue.

Indian women's hockey team loses 2-3 to GBR

The Indian women's hockey team produced its best performance of the European leg of the FIH Pro League, while narrowly losing 2-3 to Great Britain after a spirited fight in London on Sunday.

India made a brilliant comeback in the second half after 0-2 down with Sharmila Devi scoring four minutes from the regulation time to make it 2-2 but the visiting side conceded a goal in the 57th minute to lose the match.

Watson Charlotte gave GBR a 2-0 lead with two goals in the span of two minutes in the first quarter itself to which India could not respond till the second half. Charlotte struck first through a penalty stroke conversion in the fifth minute before scoring a field goal the next minute.

There was no goal from either side in the second quarter before Navneet Kaur pulled one back for India in the 34th minute through a field effort. Sharmila restored parity in the 56th minute and it looked like the match would end in a draw.

But the next minute, Petter Isabelle converted a penalty corner to break Indian hearts and handed GBR a hard-fought win.

India earned five penalty corners in the match from which they could not convert even once while GBR got three.

So far, the Indian women's hockey team has endured a disappointing run in the FIH Pro League and Sunday's defeat was the sixth one on the trot in the European leg.

They had lost to Germany 1-3 in the first match of the England leg on Saturday.

India had been beaten twice each by Belgium and Argentina in Antwerp earlier this month.

India play Germany on June 8 in their next match in London.