SV Sunil's oodles of experience came in handy as his 59th minute strike enabled India to pip a gritty Wales 4-3 in their second Pool B encounter at the Commonwealth Games, in Gold Coast.
India staged a grand recovery to defeat England 4-3 and take the top spot in Pool B of the men's hockey tournament at the Commonwealth Games on Wednesday. England finished second.
The Indians were nowhere near their last match performance against Japan as their defence crumbled under relentless pressure from the lower-ranked opposition from the onset of the match.
Paralympic gold-winners Avani Lekhara, Sumit Antil, Pramod Bhagat, Krishna Nagar, Manish Narwal were also given the Khel Ratna at a dazzling awards ceremony on Saturday.
Indian men's hockey team would be eager to ensure that its far-from-convincing campaign finds some footing when it takes on lower-ranked Malaysia
The men's team last participated in an international competition in February last year when they played the FIH Hockey Pro League matches against Australia in Bhubaneswar.
The Kookaburras had pulled ahead twice in the game, thanks to goals by Tom Wickham, but the Netherlands managed to equalise through goals by Mink van der Weerden and Jeroen Hertzberger.
The huge gulf between the two sides was evident as India bettered its 86-year-old record when it defeated USA with a 24-1 margin in Olympics.
The Indian men's hockey coach Harendra Singh is determined to seal India's 2020 Olympic berth in the upcoming Asian Games as he feels it will give the eight-time winners ample time to become realistic medal contenders in Tokyo.
India went down fighting 1-2 to Belgium in a thrilling final of the first-leg of the Four-Nation Invitational tournament at the Blake Park, in Tauranga, New Zealand, on Sunday.
India will seek to end 43 years of hurt when they begin the Hockey World Cup campaign against South Africa on Wednesday.
India's golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar romped home to a three-shot victory at the Macao Open to bag his eighth Asian Tour title in Macau on Sunday.
The Malaysians handed India a heartbreaking 6-7 loss in sudden death after an exhausting shoot-off.
An impressive India thrashed Canada 5-1 to top Pool C and seal a direct berth in the quarter-finals of the men's hockey World Cup.
The Indian women's table tennis team won gold
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday.
India, eying their maiden Champions Trophy title, had earlier crushed bitter-rivals Pakistan 4-0 in their campaign opener on Saturrday.
He was a talismanic midfielder who played the game on his own terms with fitness being key to his success
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday.
The FIH Hockey Pro League matches between India and Great Britain, scheduled for May 8-9 in London, were on Wednesday postponed following the UK government's decision to add India to the travel 'red list'.
With the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games being postponed by a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sardar feels the Indian team will get some time to work on its grey areas and unearth new talent.
They are shaken by the mass molestation in the city on New Year's Eve. But they are not waiting to be rescued. Nikita Puri reports.
