It has come to light that India has started their campaign in The Sultan of Johor Cup Under-21 hockey tournament with a victory by hammering England by 2-1 in their opening round-robin match in Malaysia on Sunday.
Remarkably, the Indians scored a goal from field efforts in both the halves to seize three points from the encounter. Specifically, Ramandeep Singh led India in the 18th minute prior Talwinder Singh enhanced the lead in the 50th minute. Subsequently, Sam French pulled one back for the Englishmen by converting a penalty corner in the 67th minute. Even after the victory, the Indians seemed far from convincing in the match, but did their best to grab the victory.
Notably, India managed to carry on with three penalty corners early in the second half in the 41st, 42nd and 45th minutes. However, Rohidas was dismally off target, who was hardly testing England goalkepeer Gibson. However, the Indians should thank their custodian Harjot Singh too, who managed to make a couple of great saves to maintain a clean slate for his side till the 67th minute. In addition, India coach Gregg Clark agreed that his wards were not up to the mark against England.
Clark commented after the match that they failed to capitalize on the opportunities they created but all credit goes to England, who stayed in the game and gave them a tough time. He highlighted that it is a question of getting things correct and as this is their first match, it was a decent performance as they really should have not been caught in possession as many times as they did. The South African added that still he is glad with the three points and a victorious start is always welcomed. But they can improve.
