The Indian women’s hockey team began its campaign in the FIH Series Finals Hiroshima 2019 with an impressive 4-1 win over Uruguay here on Saturday.
Ranked No. 9 in the world, India opened through captain Rani’s skilful strike in the 10th minute. At the end of first quarter, India led 1-0 despite Uruguay dominating the possession and creating more opportunities.
The South American side had four circle penetrations and two penalty corners, all of them kept at bay by an alert Indian defence. From the two circle penetrations India made, Rani converted one to give her side the lead.
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India dominated possession in the second quarter. While Uruguay was kept quiet, India made its moves in the opposition half.
In the 21st minute, India got its first penalty corner and Gurjant Kaur did not make any mistake in converting it (2-0).
In the third quarter, both teams kept losing the ball. India got a penalty corner but Uruguay custodian Constance Schmidt-Liermann was upto the task and kept the shot out.
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Wasted penalty corners
In the same minute, Uruguay got two penalty corners but both were wasted as the Indian defence kept it tight.
India’s constant pressure reaped dividends in the 40th minute as a nice pass from Vandana Katariya was ably converted by Jyoti. The 3-0 lead remained intact at the end of the third quarter.
In the 51st minute, Uruguay found the back of the Indian net with some individual brilliance from Maria Teresa Viana Ache.
India made it 4-1 in the 56th as captain Rani gave a smart pass in the opposition ‘D’ to an unmarked Lalremsiami, who nudged the ball into the Uruguay goal.
The result:
India 4 (Rani 10, Gurjant Kaur 21, Jyoti 40, Lalremsiami 56) bt Uruguay 1 (Maria Teresa Viana Ache 51).