Indian Men's Hockey Team defeats Spain 5-1 to continue 100% record

The men's Indian hockey team defeated Spain 5-1 in the third match of Tour of Belgium in Antwerp on Sunday. Harmanpreet Singh scored two goals to help the India team past Spain in order to register a third consecutive win and maintain a sweet 100% record in the tournament. Harmanpreet Singh scored a brace in the game on Sunday to help India win.

READ | India Hockey team will qualify for Tokyo Olympics: Dhanraj Pillay

Crushing performance

Spain went ahead early in the game when Iglesias Alvaro scored the opening goal in the third minute, which added slight pressure on India. However, the men in blue revocered almost immediately when Akashdeep Singh scored a field goal to make it 1-1. In the second quarter, SV Sunil scored to give India a 2-1 lead, and the team did not look back since. Ramandeep Singh scored India's third goal and Harampreet Singh completed the rout with two goals through two penalty corners. 

Harmanpreet scored two goals in the game on Saturday as well. The team has scored 13 goals in total in the tournament, conceding just two in return. The results have been impressive for the national team, who have been relatively comfortable against the World number eight side Spain and Belgium, who are ranked second. The team will play the host on two more occasions, on Tuesday and Thursday. 

The tour will help the team to prepare for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics qualifier against Russia in November. India will be playing Russia in Bhubaneswar on November 1 and 2. India is expected to see off Russia comfortably in the two games, with the latter being demolished 10-0 during the FIH Series Final in Bhubaneswar earlier this year. Russia is ranked 22 in the world. 

READ: Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju Assures Full Support To Women's Hockey Team For Olympics

Women's team result

The Women's National team, on the other hand, drew with Great Britain 1-1 in the second match of the Tour of England. Lalremsiami scored the equalizing goal in the 32nd minute after England had taken the advantage early in the match courtesy a penalty corner. Both the teams were resilient throughout the game to keep the score low and try and attempt to edge past the opposition. They will play the same opposition again on October 1. 

READ | 'Women's Hockey team a well-settled unit': Vice Captain Savita

READ | Asia Cup: PCB to wait for BCCI's confirmation till June 2020