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2018 Commonwealth Games: India scrape past Wales in men’s hockey
Indian men’s hockey team defeated Wales 4-3 in Commonwealth Games 2018 in Gold Coast
SV Sunil’s oodles of experience came in handy as his 59th minute strike enabled India to pip a gritty Wales 4-3 in their second pool B encounter at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast on Sunday. (2018 Commonwealth Games Gold Coast, highlights)
Sunil found the back of the net off a rebound after the Wales custodian had parried away Rupinder Pal Singh’s dragflick. Unlike the drawn game against Pakistan, the Indian defence held their nerves during the final minute to log home full points.
READ | India beat England 2-1 in women’s hockey at 2018 Commonwealth Games
The other scorers for India were Dilpreet Singh (16th), Mandeep Singh (28th), Harmanpreet Singh (57th).
For Wales, Gareth Furlong scored a hat-trick to snatch India’s lead on three occasions (17’, 45’ and 58’), converting three out of the four penalty corners that Wales earned thus keeping his team’s hopes alive for the better part of the match.
India captain Manpreet Singh admitted that he didn’t expect the match to go to the wire.
“We didn’t expect a hard (tough) game. We missed a few good chances and made it harder for ourselves. We shouldn’t have given them easy penalty corners. We need to fix our defensive structure,” a concerned India captain said as his team lost the lead three occasions before Sunil sealed it.
