Europe

French hockey rose to height, when they beat fancied India in the Test series 1-0 for the first time. They achieved this feat by rallying from a 0-3 deficit to hold India to a 3-3 draw in the second and final Test on Tuesday. The European minnows thus won the first of the two Tests 3-1 on Monday.

An elated French coach Reynaud Bertrand said this win will give a new image to hockey in his country and boost the confidence level of his players.

On the contrary, Indian coach Jagbir Singh lamented that India could not hold onto a three-goal cushion and blamed the setback to lack of concentration.

Winger Frederic Soyex was France’s saviour. He scored a memorable hattrick in a span of 20 minutes after the lemon break, by converting three of the five penalty corners his team managed to draw level. India’s running out of defence was poor and rookie goalkeeper A. C. Kutappa was helpless in coping with the variety of Frederic’s drag flicks.

First choice custodian Devesh Chauhan had to stay on the bench due to fever. India dropped the sluggish Sandeep Singh in midfield and the ploy worked.

V.S. Vinay, Vivek Gupta, Bimal Lakra and Arjun Halappa combined well with the forward trio and India went ahead in the 11th minute.

Halappa, dribbled his way into the D and scored from a zero angle with a firm push. In the 28th minute, Deepak Thakur, sprawling on the floor shot towards the goal. Off the rebound, Halappa sent a scorching reverse hit into the net.

Three minutes after the interval, Thakur sent a diagonal to dashing Tushar Khandekar on the left who cut in and scored with a stinging shot from an awkward angle.

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