Gallant India fights back before going down

s2h team


Photo: Lalit Upadhyay missing a chance to score early in the match. Photo by s2h photographer Shamim Qureshy

Despite being three goals in arrears till third quarter, India bounced back valiantly to score a double to narrow the gap to 3-4 but fell short of a goal to force a fitting draw in the first match against Australia in the FIH Pro-League today at Bhubanewsar. A shoddy first 20 minutes of display led to India's defeat on its home soils but the last quarter somehow came as a relief against expected rout. Heartening feature of course is the brace that rookie forward Raj Kumar Pal struck, which definitely offers multiple choice for Men's coach Graham Reid in his forwardline repertoire.