Indian eves lose 0-3 to USA

India failed to impress at the Hawke’s bay tournament

The Indian senior women’s hockey team failed to live up to their dogged performance in the league phase of the Hawke’s Bay Cup, going tamely 0-3 to USA. Pitted against the lowest ranked side in the tournament, the eight ranked Americans broke into the lead in the 10th minute through Kathleen Sharkey.

Even before India could mull mounting a serious fightback, Katie O’Donnell pressed home the advantage in the 14th minute to open up a 2-0 lead and held on to that two-goal cushion at half-time.

India were denied from scoring in the third quarter even as the USA outfit put the issue beyond the Blueskirts with Katie O’Donnell scoring her second and her team’s third goal in the final quarter. India will now play tenth ranked Japan in a classification match for the 7-8 positions.

Meanwhile, hosts New Zealand thumped Korea 4-0 in the semifinal to set up a final date with their Trans-tasman rivals Australia who edged China 3-2. China and Korea play for the 3-4 positions tie, while Argentina and USA play for the 5-6 positions tie.

The Indian eves earlier squandered an early lead to lose tamely 1-4 to New Zealand in the quarterfinals. They put a gritty phase in the group phase losing narrowly 1-2 to fifth ranked China, losing 2-4 to eight ranked USA and holding world number two Australia to a goalless draw.

The Indian women’s team have recently won the FIH Hockey World League Round 2 event in New Delhi, beating Poland 3-1 in the final. They will feature in the FIH Hockey World League Semifinals to be held in Brasschaat, Belgium in June this year. India will be pitted alongside Australia, New Zealand, Poland and hosts Belgium in Pool B, while Pool A features Netherlands, Korea, Japan, Italy and Azerbaijan.