Indian men's hockey team earned a thrilling 5-4 victory over Argentina on Monday in the FIH Pro League in Antwerp, Belgium with skipper Harmanpreet Singh leading from the front with a superb hat-trick. (More Cricket News)
Harmanpreet struck in the 29th, 50th and 52nd minutes to complete his hat-trick and hand India an important victory in the European Leg of the FIH Pro League.
Argentina's Monja Federico opened the scoring through a field goal just in the third minute as India fell behind early in the game. India did not take long to level the scores with Araijeet Singh Hundal finding the net in the seventh minute.
The first quarter ended with a 1-1 scoreline.
Gurjant Singh gave India the lead in the 18th minute but Argentina kept knocking on India's goalpost. A string of penalty corners around the 24th minute put India under pressure and Argentina leveled with Keenan Nicolas scoring.
Captain Harmanpreet then took matters in his own hands and gave India lead for the second time in the match. India earned a penalty corner in the 29th minuted and the Indian skipper ensured that his team will go into the third quarter with a 3-2 lead.
The defence of both teams stood tall in the next quarter as none of them were able to find the back of the net despte some attacking hockey being played.
India did earn a penalty corner but Harmanpreet's drag flick was blocked by the Argentine goalkeeper.
The fourth quarter saw India dominating Argentina and forcing them to make errors. India earned another penalty corner with just 10 minutes remaining in the game. The corner was converted into a penalty stroke and Harmanpreet had no issues in converting it into India's fourth goal.
Another penalty stroke just two minutes later gave India their fifth goal and Harmanpreet his hat-trick. Three goals behind with just a few minutes left, Argentina went into top gear.
Argentina found two quick goals pulled two goals back in quick succession with Marcucci Tadeo and Martinez Lucas scoring field goals but it was not enough as at the final whistle the scorecard read 5-4 in India's favour.
India's next match is against Germany on June 1.
