Sunday, December 10, 2023

Hockey World Cup: New Zealand broke the dream of crores of fans, Team India out of the World Cup, lost in the shootout

The Indian team is out of the Hockey World Cup. In the cross-over match played at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Sunday (January 22), the Indian team defeated New Zealand 5-4 in the shootout. Both the teams were tied at 3-3 for the stipulated 60 minutes, due to which the match went into the shootout. With this defeat, the face of Team India winning the World Cup for the second time was broken. Team India was able to win the World Cup for the only time in the year 1975.

Lalit Upadhyay, Sukhjit Singh, Varun Kumar scored goals for India within the stipulated time. On the other hand, Sam Lane, Ken Russell and Sean Findlay scored goals for the Kiwi team. The Indian team had finished second in Group-D during the league stage, due to which they had to enter the crossover match. India had 7 points from three matches with two wins and one draw. England also had the same number of points, leaving behind India on the basis of better goal average and entered the quarter-finals directly. New Zealand will face World Champion Belgium in the quarter-finals.

The shootout went like this: shootout

There was no goal in the first quarter

In the first quarter, there was a thorny contest between the two teams. And both the teams could not score any goal. Although India definitely got a penalty corner in the 12th minute of the game, which went in vain. The second quarter was full of excitement. A total of three goals were scored in this quarter. First of all, Lalit Upadhyay (17th minute) scored a brilliant field goal to give Team India a 1-0 lead.

Lalit gave initial success

After this, India got three penalty corners within four minutes, in which one goal was scored. That is, Team India became 2-0. Sukhjit Singh (24th minute) scored this goal on the penalty corner for India. New Zealand managed to reduce the lead in the 28th minute of the game when Sam Lane’s shot failed to be stopped by the Indian goalkeeper.

… then New Zealand made a comeback

The third quarter was also very exciting. The Indian team kept the pressure on the Kiwis, but despite this, conceded one goal in this quarter. India got a penalty corner in the 38th minute which went in vain. In its 40th minute, Varun Kumar was able to score a goal by converting the penalty corner. With this the score became 3-1 in favor of India. Then in the 43rd minute, the Indian defense made a mistake due to which New Zealand got a penalty corner. Ken Russell was successful in scoring a penalty corner. In the fourth quarter, the Indian defense looked scattered, taking advantage of which scored a goal, due to which the match went to the shootout.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Latest article