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India registered a magnificent 1-0 win over Australia in their penultimate match of the FIH Women's Hockey Pro League mini-tournament in Rourkela on Saturday, February 17.
An opportunistic diving goal from Vandana Katariya helped the Indians notch up their first win against the Australians since their Tokyo Olympic quarter-final triumph.
The Indians have thus notched up their second win of the 2023-24 FIH Women's Hockey Pro League after defeating the USA in Bhubaneswar.
Grace Stewart and Jane Claxton combined to help the Hockeyroos earn their first short corner in the second minute but Monika Malik was on hand to clear the drag flick out of harm's way.
Savita Punia was beaten by a probing cross in the seventh minute but Alice Arnott's shot hit the post. Kaitlin Nobbs forced a short corner in the 20th minute before Tatum Stewart's drag flick was gloved away by Savita Punia.
Ambrosia Malone had a golden chance to open the scoring a minute later but the Indians had a lucky escape as the ball missed the post by a whisker.
Savita Punia was in the thick of things immediately after halftime but the Indians won a short corner thanks to Vandana Katariya. After manufacturing the penalty corner, Vandana Katariya brought the crowd to their feet with a spectacular diving goal in the 34th minute.
Sangita Kumari's scorching run helped the Indians earn a penalty corner in the 40th minute with Navneet Kaur trying a variation before going direct with the follow-up to no avail.
Australia won a follow-up penalty corner after the Indians broke too early from the halfway line following the initial short corner but the visitors failed to convert early in the final quarter.
Lalremsiami was shown a green card with three minutes remaining on the clock. The Aussies immediately launched a wave of attacks and earned a penalty corner which was overturned by the video umpire.
Australia did earn a short corner at the death but failed to stop the ball cleanly much to the delight of the crowd at the Birsa Munda Stadium. Sjoerd Marijne's Indian team last defeated the Australians 1-0 in the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Janneke Schopman's team to wind up India leg of Women's Hockey Pro League against the USA
In what has been a difficult period for the women's game in India, Janneke Schopman's team began their Olympic qualifiers with a loss against the USA and will end the Women's Hockey Pro League against the same side in Rourkela.
The USA who went on to qualify for the Paris Olympics began the Olympic qualifiers with a 1-0 win against hosts India in Ranchi before ending up second in the competition.
The Indians, meanwhile, suffered a narrow shootout loss to Germany which was followed by a defeat against Japan in the bronze-medal game in January.
The Women's Hockey Pro League which followed just a couple of weeks after the qualifiers, witnessed the girls lose twice to China by an identical 1-2 scoreline.
After putting up a brave fight against mighty Netherlands the Savita Punia-led side lost to the Dutch 1-3 in the first leg before going down 0-1 in the second. Following the morale-boosting win against the Australians, India would like nothing better than to end the Women's Hockey Pro League mini-tournament with a win against the USA on Sunday.
