India recovered from a shaky start to beat Austria 7-3 for their second consecutive win in the World Hockey Olympic qualifying tournament at the Prince of Wales Country Club in Santiago.
Rocked by a second minute goal, India bounced back in a splendid fashion as Dilip Tirkey (9th, 23rd), Shivendra Singh (51st, 55th), Ignace Tirkey (42nd), Bharat Chhikara (53rd) and Rajpal Singh (53rd) struck telling blows.
Austria, who went into the lead when Robert Buchta scrambled the ball in from a counter-attack in the second minute, kept India on their toes with two penalty corner conversions by Christian Minar (28th, 59th).
India, after a poor start with their midfield play in tatters, made up for their first-half lapses with splendid attacking hockey in the second-half when they scored five goals in 13 minutes to take the game away from the Austrians.
Indians were surprisingly tentative against the European outfit that solely depended on quick counter-attacks which fetched them no fewer than seven penalty corners. But the Austrian penalty corner drill was rather predictable and the Indians were rather fortunate to get away lightly.
For much of the first-half, the Austrians matched their fancied rivals move for move and goal for goal giving the Indians many an anxious moment.
{{/usCountry}}For much of the first-half, the Austrians matched their fancied rivals move for move and goal for goal giving the Indians many an anxious moment.
{{/usCountry}}However, with change of ends, the complexion of the game turned dramatically with India going on the rampage. Austrian defence was simply torn apart by the speed and skill of the Indian forwards who evoked memories of their 7-2 drubbing of Korea in the 2007 Asia Cup final at Chennai.