E-Paper
India hold NZ to stay in medal race
The 1-1 draw kept Indian hopes alive.
India survived a scare before holding New Zealand to a 1-1 draw in their last league match and stay in contention for a medal finish in the Champions Trophy hockey tournament in Lahore on Friday.
The draw took India's points tally to four from five matches and it was enough for the side to set a clash against arch-rivals Pakistan in the bronze medal match. The final would be played between Holland and Spain, who downed Pakistan 3-0 earlier in the day.
New Zealand, who had upset the Indians at the Athens Olympics denying them a place in the top-six, came quite close to send the Indians to play for last two berths but failed to latch on to the chances.
The New Zealanders had taken the lead through Darren Smith in the 57th minute before India equalised when Arjun Halappa converted a penalty stroke five minutes later.
India started off the match on an aggressive note when they made a flurry of attacks on the opposition post in the first quarter itself.
The came close to scoring on a few occasions but were denied every time by goalkeeper Paul Woolford, who had a fine outing in the competition so far.
