Olympics Hockey: India break Argentina jinx

RIO DE JANEIRO: India had lost four and drawn one of their last five encounters against Argentina. And after an energy-sapping game against Germany on Monday, which they lost in the dying seconds, the men in blue were in a spot of bother. They had to win this one to stay on course for a quarterfinal spot.
They came in determined to prove a point or two here on Tuesday.That they did, in the face of a last-quarter barrage of attacks by Argentina which would have tested the best defenders of the world. And they walked away from it unscathed, with a 2-1 result which has given them some breathing space and a lot of confidence.
Both Indian goals came through Manipuri boys. The first was via a penalty corner in the eighth minute of the first quarter, as K Chinglensana failed to make a clean stop but recovered immediately to drag the ball into the circle and slam it home. It caught the Argentines unawares.
The second came in the third quarter, off a counter-attack. The Argentines were pressing, but lost the ball at the half line and the Indians raided. Akashdeep ran in from the left flank and passed to Ramandeep, whose hit found a defender, got a deflection and K Kothajit slotted it home.
But that was where India's domination ended. The men in blue and white started pressing, with their midfield and defence building pressure. Something had to give way, and it did in the fourth quarter.

Argentina won their first penalty corner in the 49th minute and Gonzalo Peillat slammed the board without a fuss. 1-2 and India were now worried. Errors crept into their game. They defended stoutly but cleared some by sending up long balls which were picked up by their rivals to attack again.
"That was not part of our game plan," Indian coach Roelant Oltmans admitted later.
What followed Argetina's first goal was a flurry of raids and constant danger of penalty corners. After succumbing to the first, the Indians denied their rivals four times in PCs -once Sreejesh dived to make a good save, then Surinder Kumar made a brilliant on-the-line save, and finally Raghunath rushed out to block the flick and ensuing danger. "It is a big win. Argentina are World Cup bronze-medallists. As expected, we came under a lot of pressure in the last quarter. But the hard work we have put in towards defending PCs showed today. The boys made me proud."
Yes, that was where the match was won and lost. In fact, the Indians even managed to hold on to the ball in the final two minutes and created goal-scoring opportunities.
"It was very tough towards the end, very tense. But we did a wonderful job. Every save I make and every PC the defenders defend gives life to the team. And we are alive here. We will rest tomorrow and come back on Thursday to take on the Netherlands. There is a lot of hard work ahead," goal keeper P Sreejesh said.
One jarring note in India's performance is the number of cards the team has been getting here. In the first match against Ireland, a player was sent out with a yellow in the last two minutes. On Tues day, Indians copped 4 cards -2 green and 2 yellow. When this was pointed out, coach Oltmans said: "I may not agree with all the cards but yes, we have to be careful."
Women outplayed by Britain
The Indian women's team bowed 0-3 to the higher-ranked Britain on Monday night. Britain scored through Giselle Ansley (25th minute), Nicola White (27th) and Alexandra Danson (33rd).