 | « Back to article | Print this article |
India's women's hockey team suffered their third defeat at the Tokyo Olympics, going down 1-4 to defending champions Great Britain, at the Oi Hockey stadium, on Wednesday.
The defeat put them virtually out of the reckoning for a place in the knock-out stage.
India's next match is against Ireland on Friday.
In other matches in Pool A, The Netherlands beat South Africa 5-0, Spain overcame New Zealand 2-1 for their first victory and Germany proved too good for Ireland, winning 4-2.
After the 1-5 drubbing from world No. 1 the Netherlands in their opener and 0-2 loss to Germany, the Indian girls put up a good fight but failed to capitalise on the many chances that came their way against Britain.
They forced as many as eight penalty-corners but could score from just one.
Great Britain forced six penalty-corners, but they too did not have much success from set-pieces, scoring just once from them.
They fell into arrears early as Britain got off to a rousing start, Hannah Martin scoring in the second minute from the team's first break into the India circle.
Martin doubled Britain's lead, striking again in the 19th minute, with a backhand finish past goalkeeper Savita Punia.
India did well to pull a goal back just before half-time when Sharmila Devi scored after a perfect penalty-corner drill, deflecting in Gurjit's strike.
However, Lily Owsley made it 3-1 for Britain on resumption after the break with a close-range shot in the 42nd minute.
Therefater, Britain called the shot with better possession and attached the Indian defence. They forced two penalty-corners in the last quarter, and deservedly scored agaain.
Grace Balsdon put the issue beyond doubt in the 57th minute, sending goalkeeper Savita the wrong way from a penalty-stroke.