Fully aware of penalty corners' importance in modern day hockey, Canada coach Robin D'Abreo said that star drag-flicker Sandeep Singh will be a potential threat for the opponents of India in the hockey Olympic qualifiers to be held in New Delhi from February 18-26.
Dragflicker Sandeep Singh converted two penalty corners to help India inflict a 3-1 defeat on England in their second practice match ahead of the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi on Tuesday.
India ensured they stayed in the lead and didn't allow New Zealand to break through their defense throughout the match.
Dragflicker Sandeep Singh made a return, while injured striker Shivendra Singh and midfielder Arjun Halappa have been rested from a 22-member Indian hockey squad for a tour of Europe, starting next month.
Indian men's hockey team witnessed a disappointing start to its final preparatory campaign ahead of the Rio Olympics after it went down 1-4 to Spain in the first of the two practice games in Madrid. For eight-time champions India, the loss against Spain couldn't have come at the right time as they give final touches to their preparation before flying directly to Rio from here in search of an Olympic medal that eluded the country for 36 years. India's last of the eight Olympic gold medals came way back in 1980.
Varun Kumar converted a penalty corner in the 24th minute to hand India the lead before Simranjeet Singh (55th) scored a diving field goal from skipper Manpreet Singh's brilliant pass to secure full three points for the five-time champions.
Starting their campaign in style, Maratha Warriors thrashed Chennai Veerans 4-1 in a one-sided match of the Premier Hockey League in Chandigarh on Friday.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday.
The Indian women's hockey team took giant leap towards Olympic qualification with a near-flawless performance to hammer United States 5-1 in the first-leg of the two-match FIH 2020 Olympic Qualifier.
A spirited Ranchi Rays overcame a two-goal deficit to hold defending champions Delhi Waveriders to a 2-2 draw in a league match of the third Hero Hockey India League (HIL) in Ranchi.
Harmanpreet (41', 51') and Ramandeep Singh (35') scored in the second half after Akashdeep Singh (5') and SV Sunil (20') had put India ahead at half-time.
Agustin Mazzilli and Gonzalo Peillat scored a brace each to help Olympic champions Argentina eke out a 4-3 win over Spain, while New Zealand scrapped past France 2-1.
Under pressure Indian women's hockey team produced a spirited performance to come back from a goal down and hold higher-ranked USA to a 1-1 draw in their last Pool B match and progress to the knock-out stages of the World Cup, in London, on Sunday.
Hosts Germany overpowered India 2-0 in an action-packed encounter to end its campaign at the Three Nations Invitational hockey tournament on a winning note.
Goals from Gurjit Kaur (7th, 9th minutes), Navjot Kaur (9th) and Lalremsiami (38th) ensured India's entry into Sunday's final where they will face China.
Ranchi Rays came back from a bitter loss in their previous game to clinch a remarkable 7-3 win over table toppers Dabang Mumbai in the Coal India Hockey India League in Ranchi on Thursday.
Gurjinder Singh showed his brilliance while converting a penalty corner to hand Kalinga Lancers a 1-0 victory over Delhi Waveriders in their opening campaign of the Hockey India League, in Bhubaneswar, on Sunday.
Verma wins compound individual gold, opens tally for India.
India wasted as many as five penalty corners seconds from the final hooter to go down 1-2 against Netherlands but still sealed a quarter-final spot at Rio Olympics hockey competition in Rio de Janeiro, on Thursday.
India played like champions and remained unbeaten throughout the tournament.
India will seek to end 43 years of hurt when they begin the Hockey World Cup campaign against South Africa on Wednesday.
Going into the title clash, World no. 5 India were clear favourites to lift their sixth Azlan Shah title against the 17th ranked Koreans.
It was a complete performance by the Indians who dominated their arch-rivals throughout the match to post a facile win and zoom to the top of Pool B ahead of The Netherlands.
Plagued by injuries, India named a young 18-member squad to be led by the inspirational Sardar Singh in the crucial Asia Cup hockey tournament scheduled from August 24 to September 1 in Ipoh, Malaysia.
The loss will hurt the Indians badly as a gold here would have guaranteed a direct qualification in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Delhi Waveriders' winless streak continued as they lost 2-3 to defending champions Jaypee Punjab Warriors to slump to their third defeat in the fifth edition of the Hockey India League, in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Australia's quest for a record hat-trick of titles started with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Ireland in the opening Pool D match of the men's hockey World Cup, in Bhubaneswar, on Friday.
Sloppy defending cost India dearly as Sam Ward scored a brace for England to hand the home team a heart-breaking 2-3 defeat in a hard-fought Pool B match of the Hockey World League (HWL) Final, in Bhubaneswar, on Saturday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Tuesday
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Sunday
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Tuesday
India produced a spirited performance to beat Korea 4-1 in the penalty shoot-out after both the teams were locked at 2-2.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Saturday
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Saturday.
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.
A win away from rewriting history after a long gap of 15 years, Indian colts would look to showcase their best and leave nothing to chance when they take on Belgium in the summit showdown of the men's Junior Hockey World Cup in Lucknow on Saturday. The wintry Sunday could turn out to be the biggest day for these Under-21 Indian hockey players as they chase a dream of winning the mega event for the second time. India had earlier won the trophy way back in 2001 in Hobart, Australia. This is India's third entry into the final of the Junior World Cup after having finished runners-up in 1997. Assured of the silver medal, the Indians would now eye nothing less than the yellow metal.
Debutants Ranchi Rays will face season's most consistent team Jaypee Punjab Warriors in the summit clash of the third Hero Hockey India League after both teams registered contrasting wins in their respective semi-finals in New Delhi.
Uttar Pradesh Wizards and Jaypee Punjab Warriors finished 2-2 to register the first draw of the second edition of Hero Hockey India League (HHIL) at the Dhyan Chand Stadium in Lucknow.
