Paris Olympics: Harmanpreet’s late strike hands India a 1-1 draw against Argentina

Paris: Captain Harmanpreet Singh’s late penalty corner strike helped the Indian men’s hockey team come back from the brink of defeat to salvage points against Rio 2016 winner Argentina in their second Pool B match in the 33rd Olympic Games here on Monday.

Harmanpreet converted the crucial penalty corner in the 59th minute of the match to negate Lucas Martinez’s first-half goal as the team maintained its chances of reaching the quarterfinals of the hockey competition.

Despite holding much of the ball possession since the start of the match, the Indian forwards failed to get the back of the Argentinian net in the first three quarters.

It finally happened in the last minute of the match and the Indians heaved a sigh of relief as they remained unbeaten in the event. But the Indians had to thank goalkeeper P.R Sreejesh for keeping them alive till Harmanpreet swung into action in the last minute before the long hooter.

The match started on equal footing as the opening quarter remained goalless with both teams testing each other in attack and defense.

However, in the second quarter, Lucas Martinez’s field goal in the 22nd minute gave the 2016 Rio Olympics gold medallists an early lead in the match.

In the third quarter, Argentina had the golden opportunity to extend their lead further on a penalty stroke but Maico Casella misfired in front of Indian goalkeeper Sreejesh.

In the final quarter, India were the dominating force in the attack and also earned consecutive penalty corners in the dying minutes of the match. Harmanpreet finally found the back of the net with the second short corner to equalise the scores. The match ended in a 1-1 draw with both teams claiming a point each.

Earlier, India started their campaign with a thrilling 3-2 win against New Zealand on Saturday. They will next take on Ireland at 4:45 pm IST on Tuesday.

IANS