Champions Trophy: India start campaign with win

India made a bright start to their campaign at the Champions Trophy hockey tournament with a come-from-behind 3-1 win over England in Pool A at the State Hockey Centre in Melbourne on Saturday.

India made a bright start to their campaign at the Champions Trophy hockey tournament with a come-from-behind 3-1 win over England in Pool A at the State Hockey Centre here on Saturday.

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The new-look Indian team clinched a morale-boosting win through goals from opportunistic field goals from Danish Mujtaba (22nd minute) and Yuvraj Walmiki (38th) before Gurwinder Singh Chandi scored in a set-piece penalty corner (66th minute).

Earlier, the India defence was breached by a drag flick from Richard Smith on England's maiden penalty corner in the 14th minute.

Playing the first major international event after their disastrous last-place finish in the London Olympics, India have come to the elite eight-nation Champions Trophy with a new look team after dropping several ageing stars.

England have brought a young, experimental team here after several regular players took a break following the Olympics, where Great Britain finished fourth.

Many seasoned players in the England line-up went back to their full-time jobs or universities and left the places open for young players to be inducted for this tournament.

Giving a good display of competitive hockey, the young Indian outfit had to fight back after conceding the early lead when Smith's rising drag-flick went high into the goal. India forced their first penalty corner four minutes later, but Raghunath's low drag went abegging.