Hockey: India overcomes New Zealand challenge

INDIA outwitted New Zealand 3-2 in men's hockey, rallying in a see-saw game that was decided just one minute before the hooter went off.

For India, Mandeep Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad and Harmanpreet did the scoring.

India started on the offensive, with Harmanpreet and Abhsihek putting pressure on the New Zealand defence. New Zealand were initially content to sit back and defend but they stunned India by scoring the first goal of the match through Lane from a penalty corner.

Jolted by the early goal, India pressed hard and controlled the proceedings for most part of the match. The Indians utilised both flanks to build their attacks while the Black Sticks looked for counters.

Despite the win, India's chief coach Craig Fulton would be a little worried about the team's penalty corner conversion rate. The team earned five penalty corners but converted just one, while New Zealand had nine set pieces and utilised two of them.

India's experienced goal-keeper PR Sreejesh said the performance in Saturday's match was indeed was a wake-up call for his side.

"The first match in the Olympics is never easy. New Zealand is not an easy team. We made some mistakes, but there were a few good things as well. It's a good wake up call," Sreejesh said.

Smooth start for shuttlers

In the badminton competition being held at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena in Paris, the celebrated men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty recorded an easy straight-game victory in their opening group stage men's doubles match after Lakshya Sen got his maiden Olympic campaign underway on a winning note.

The third-seeded duo of Satwik and Chirag, who are also the reigning Asian Games champions, notched up a 21-17 21-14 win over the French pair of Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar in a Group C match.

Sen, on the other hand, beat Tokyo edition semifinalist Kevin Cordon of Guatemala 21-8 22-20 in a Group L contest of the men's singles.

At the South Paris Arena, paddler Harmeet Desai also dazzled on debut. He added some more sparkle to India's performance by progressing to the men's singles second round with a convincing 4-0 victory over Jordan's Zaid Abo Yaman.

Preeti Pawar in pre-quarters

Indian boxer Preeti Pawar picked up a unanimous decision win against Vietnam's Vo Thi Kim Anh to enter the women's 54kg category pre-quarterfinals at the Paris Olympics.

The Asian Games bronze medallist, competing in her maiden Olympic Games, opened the proceedings for India in the boxing arena as she won her first round by a 5-0 margin on Saturday night. (PTI)