The Indian men's hockey team's trip Down Under began with a 1-4 defeat to Australia 'A' in the first international friendly, in Rockingham, on Monday. However, the Indian women's team provided some relief by drawing the third Test against Australia 1-1 at Mundrah, a suburb about 100 km from Perth.
India's lone goal came from the sticks of Dilpreet Singh in the 34th minute.
Indian defence crumbled under the onslaught of a rampaging Australia as they were handed a 1-5 thrashing by the world champions in their second league fixture of the 25th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament in Ipoh, Malaysia on Thursday. Australia, the eight-time winners of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, launched their campaign to reclaim the title they lost to New Zealand last year with a dominant performance against the Indian side seeking to provide exposure to several youngsters. Blake Govers (fifth minute), Jacob Whetton (13th), Eddie Okkenden (20th), Simon Orchard (25th) and Matt Ghodes (53rd) scored for Australia, who have brought virtually their full-strength squad to prepare for the Olympic Games. India's lone goal came through a penalty corner conversion by Rupinder Pal Singh in the eighth minute. This was Australia first outing in the round-robin league, while India prevailed 2-1 over Japan on Wednesday in an unimpressive campaign opener.
The opening day of the Hero Hockey World League Final witnessed a major upset as lower-ranked Argentina put up a spirited display to outclass London Olympic silver medallist Netherlands 5-2, while world number two Australia eked out a narrow 3-2 win over Belgium in Pool B at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium on Friday.
World Cup bronze medallists Argentina stunned Olympic champions Germany 3-0 in their concluding Pool B match to end their league engagements in the Hero Champions Trophy hockey tournament, in Bhubaneswar, on a high note.
India squandered a two-goal lead to suffer a 2-7 hammering at the hands of world champions Australia and crash out of the Hero Hockey World League Final in New Delhi on Wednesday.
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