The Indian women’s hockey team came back twice from a goal deficit to hold world number 2 side Australia 2-2 in a hard-fought round-robin league match of the Olympic Test Event here on Sunday.
Vandana Katariya (36th) and Gurjit Kaur (59th) scored for India to cancel out strikes from Kaitlin Nobbs (14th) and Grace Stewart (43rd) in their second match of the tournament. India had beaten hosts Japan 2-1 in their first match on Saturday.
World number 10 India began the match aggressively, matching Australia’s attacking hockey with their own brand.
And in the 14th minute, Nobbs made no mistake in converting from the spot to give Australia a 1-0 advantage.
India struck on the break as Vandana Katariya finished off a superb move to equalise in the 36th minute. But the lead did not last long as Australia started to look for their second goal.
It was in the 43rd minute that Australia found their second goal through some exquisite team work, which saw Grace Stewart also registering her name on the score-sheet to give Australia a 2-1 lead.
With moves breaking down, and chances going waste, it looked like Australia would hold onto their 2-1 lead, but with just a couple of minutes remaining on the clock, India won a crucial penalty corner in the 59th minute.
And, prolific drag-flicker Gurjit Kaur stepped up and struck a sweet blow into the back of the net to earn India a well-deserved draw.
The Indian women's team will face China on Tuesday in their third and last round-robin match of the tournament.
Meanwhile in the men’s game, India squandered an early lead to go down fighting 1-2 to New Zealand in their second match.
Skipper Harmanpreet Singh put India ahead in the second minute by converting a Penalty Corner, but New Zealand struck back in the last quarter through two well-crafted field goals — Jacob Smith (47’) and Sam Lane (60’) to have the last laugh.
India had made an impressive start to the tournament, thrashing Malaysia 6-0 in their opening match but the second-match defeat means they are currently sitting at the second spot in the points table with one match to go.
India will face hosts Japan on Tuesday.
