India

France rallied brilliantly from being down 1-3 to draw the second hockey Test with India 3-3 at the Shivaji Stadium here Tuesday and win the two-match series 1-0.

The visiting side, which does not even figure in the top 16 teams ranked by the International Hockey Federation, had beaten fifth-ranked India 3-1 Monday at the same venue.

Hard working Arjun Halappa (11th and 26th minutes) and Tushar Khandekar (38th) scored for India, while Soyez Frederic scored a fine hat trick (44th, 60th and 69th), converting three penalty corners in the second half.

Giving a better performance than Monday's poor show, India took a 2-0 lead at half-time - and made it to 3-0 in early second half -- only to squander it and allow the underdogs to claw their way up.

In fact, in the dying minutes of the match, France got a golden opportunity to win the match as they fumbled with a penalty corner push a shade over a minute from the final whistle.

To be fair to the Dilip Tirkey-led side, some of the experienced players like Sandeep Michael, Viren Rasquinha, Gagan Ajit Singh, goalkeepers Adrian D'Souza and Devesh Chauhan were absent.

Their non-attendance, however, did not seem to affect the team in first half.

India had the better of the exchanges in the first 35 minutes as the forward line maintained pressure while the defenders led by Tirkey did a good job thwarting the French attacks.

Even goalkeeper Shrujesh did a fine work under the bar. His reflex save in the 21st minute was one of the high points of the match.

But the old habit of Indian players of not releasing the ball for their team mates in time also contributed to the draw.

V.S. Vinay and Halappa, as always, worked hard and swapped wings in search of goals.

After scoring two fine goals, Halappa also could have performed a hat trick, but his stinging shot in the 35th minute rose too high and hit the woodwork as the ball went out.

Forward Deepak Thakur, who is returning to the game after his illness during the Athens Olympic Games in August, gave a good account of himself.

He was instrumental in the execution of the third goal as it was his pass off which Khandekar scored a fluent field goal.

In second half, the French side raised their game admirably and looked keener for goals than the hosts. And their resilience paid off as they utilised the opportunities that came their way.

Of the six penalty corners they earned, the visiting side converted three, all through the lanky Frederic.

India, on the other hand, forced three penalty corners and all went waste.


Indo-Asian News Service

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