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In their recent FIH Pro League match, the Indian men’s hockey team defeated Argentina in a 5-4 thriller at the Wilrijkse Plein Antwerp on May 26, Sunday. The captain of India, Harmanpreet Singh, led from the front, scoring a hat-trick to put his team in a commanding position before they held on to a win in the face of a late Argentinian comeback.
The first quarter of the pulsating contest saw Argentina take the early lead through Federico Monja in the third minute. India levelled the scoreline at 1-1 just four minutes later through Araijeet Singh Hundal before Gurjant Singh put them in the lead with a goal in the 18th minute.
Argentina made it 2-2 with the first penalty conversion of the night through Nicolas Keenan in the 24th minute. But just before the stroke of half-time, the Indian captain Harmanpreet Singh scored his first goal in the match through a penalty corner of his own to put India in a 3-2 lead.
In the third quarter, India missed a lot of chances to put some distance between themselves and Argentina. Harmanpreet Singh stepped up for them in the fourth quarter, converting two penalty strokes in the 50th and 52nd minute to complete his hat-trick while giving the team a big 5-2 lead.
But Argentina didn’t go down without putting up a fight with Tadeo Marcucci 54’ (FG) and Lucas Martinez 57’ (FG), giving themselves enough time to score an equaliser. Although the Indian defence managed to stay resolute in the final three minutes of the FIH Pro League match to secure a massive 5-4 win.
This victory was enough for India to jump into second place in the FIH Pro League standings with 21 points in 12 matches, while the leaders Netherlands have 26 points in 12 matches as well. The Indian men’s hockey team will now be travelling to London to kick-start the next leg of their league campaign from June 1 onwards.
