World No. 4 India made a winning start in their opening match with a 3-2 win over New Zealand but suffered a 1-7 defeat in a one-sided match against Australia.
Tokyo Olympics 2020:Indian players have had a disappointing journey so far in the Tokyo Olympics. Meanwhile, the Indian men's hockey team has made a great comeback after losing badly to the Australian team in the previous match. India thrashed Spain 3-0 thanks to two goals from drag-flicker Rupinder Pal Singh.
With this win, the Indian team has moved to the second position in Pool A. Rupinder (15th and 51st minute) scored two goals while Simranjit Singh (14th minute) scored one goal for India against world No. 9 teams Spain.
World No. 4 India made a winning start in their opening match with a 3-2 win over New Zealand but suffered a 1-7 defeat in a one-sided match against Australia.
Spain's team has so far failed to register a win in the tournament. The team played a 1-1 draw against Argentina in their first match when they lost 3-4 against New Zealand in the second match. India will take on defending Olympic champions Argentina in their next match on Thursday.
It is very difficult for any team to recover from a morale-breaking defeat within a day but the Indian team looked more organized on Tuesday against Spain.
Despite the win, India's head coach Graham Reid said the team needs to work on the weak points before the rest of the match, including losing penalty corners to the opposition.
"Today's result was good but for improvement, many things need to be worked out. We have given a lot of corners, when this happens it is always a matter of concern. But in terms of defense, the team did very well.
"We played really well in the first quarter, that's the strategy we had," Reid said. We struggled a bit in the second and third quarters." The Manpreet Singh-led side put pressure on the opposition from the start and managed to hold the ball for longer in the first 10 minutes. The team, however, did not create any real chances to score.
In the ninth minute, India got a chance to take the lead but Simranjeet failed to put Manpreet's pass inside the goal. The Spanish team slowly returned to the rhythm and the team got its first penalty corner in the 12th minute which was wasted.
Also Read - APJ Abdul Kalam Death Anniversary: Know why the missile man said, 'I want to take the next birth in Meerut...'
India stepped up their attack in the last moments of the first quarter. The team also got the advantage, while taking advantage of the weakness of Spain's defense, Simranjit scored a goal by hitting goalkeeper Quico Cortes on Amit Rohidas's pass.
India got three consecutive penalty corners in the last minute. Harmanpreet's shot at the third penalty corner hit the Spanish defender and India got a penalty stroke which Rupinder converted to double the team's lead.
After trailing by two goals, Spain put pressure on the Indian defense line in the second quarter and most of the game was played in the Indian half.
Spain got the advantage of the pressure strategy in the third quarter in the form of three penalty corners but the Indian defense line thwarted all the attacks of the opposing team.
Experienced goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, who failed completely against Australia, looked in fine form against Spain and thwarted several attacks from the opposition.
After a two-goal lead, the Indian team was satisfied with a defensive play in the fourth and final quarter. Spain meanwhile continued to exert pressure.
India got their fourth penalty corner of the match in the 51st minute which was converted by Rupinder to give India a 3-0 lead which proved to be the deciding score.
Spain then intensified the attacks. The team got three consecutive penalty corners in the 53rd minute but drag-flicker Pau Kyumada failed to penetrate the Indian defense led by Sreejesh.
Spain got another penalty corner in the last minute but this time also Sreejesh foiled Quemada's attempt. Sreejesh said he is experienced enough to make a comeback after a poor show against Australia. He lauded the Indian defense line which was able to withstand the pressure from Spain.
Sreejesh said, "The goalkeeper's job is to handle the pressure. I think when you get experienced enough you are able to handle the pressure and control the team. He did his job well and we didn't concede any goal which is the most important thing. .''