Wales proved to be the giantkiller of the day as it chalked out its first ever win over India in women’s hockey of the XXI Commonwealth Games at the Gold Coast Hockey Centre here on Thursday.
The Pool A match saw the Welsh, ranked No. 26 in the world, shock its rival with a gusty 3-2 win, which should leave India now with a lot of trouble to make it the knockout round. The Indians on the whole was never on par of their known performance level at any time of the match and blew away as many as 14 penalty corners before succumbing to the humiliating defeat.
The outcome was mostly predictable as Wales struck early on in the 7th-minute as a strongly moving Lisa Daley waltzed the ball past the Indian custodian, Savita, without much difficulty for a 1-0 lead. The Indians were hardly able to overcome the initial blues even into the second quarter and again suffered due to this as Sian French doubled the advantage for her side driving home a penalty stroke awarded in favour of the Welsh in the 26th minute.
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The Indian engine somehow crackled to life thereafter and were able to call the shots for the first time soon after the break as skipper Rani Rampal and Nikki Pradhan helped the side to restore parity with goals in the third quarter. Rani was the first to find the target converting a penalty corner, the second came in the session, when Nikki cleanly deflected in a cross from Navjot Kaur.
India had its chances to sew up the match but somehow failed to convert the good passes. The passing which had remained rusty all through suddenly looked more sharp but a Welsh counter-attack saw Savita fumbling with a clearance and then Natasha Marke-Jones striking the winner.
India takes on Malaysia on Friday in its second clash.
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