India put on a spirited display in the final minutes to defeat Great Britain 2-1 in the ongoing Champions Trophy hockey tournament in London on Saturday.
Mandeep Singh (17) and Harmanpreet Singh (34) scored a goal each from India, while Ashley Jackson (35) was Britain’s scorer.
India also has goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh to thank for he stood like a rock before the British attackers.
Despite the match being delayed for about 20 minutes due to rain still it was the hosts who were on the front foot.
Though Sreejesh had to make two vital stops in a matter of a few minutes still India slowly but surely crawled their way back into the contest. India took the lead in the 17th minute when Mandeep bent low and stuck it past the rival goalkeeper off an assist from SV Sunil.
Backed on by a vociferous home crowd, Britain upped the ante only to be denied by some superb work by the Indian defenders.
Just after half an hour, it was India who struck again as Harmanpreet’s flick struck Barry Middleton on the body.
Though Middleton did ward off the threat still Indian coach Roelant Oltmans signaled skipper V.R. Raghunath to go for a referral.
India was correctly awarded a penalty stroke which was coolly converted by Harmanpreet.
Britain later hit back exactly five minutes after halftime when Jackson showed great skill off a penalty corner and placed the ball past Sreejesh to reduce the margin.
The visitors later kept off a number of threatening attacks from the hosts and held on to clinch their first victory of the competition.
