It was a tough start to the ‘pool of death’ for the New Zealand Men’s Hockey Team at the Paris Olympics this morning, falling 3-2 to Tokyo Bronze Medallists India.
New Zealand will rue some basic errors in possession that might have cost them the chance to snatch points from the higher ranked side.
But confidence can be taken from the performance of Olympic debutant keeper Dom Dixon who put on a marvelous display to prevent more goals.
At the other end of the pitch the Indian keeper was also doing his best in denying Kiwi goals, with New Zealand creating a number of opportunities resulting in shots and goals and penalty corners.
It was an early penalty corner that saw the team in black grab the lead when Sam Lane, scoring his first goal since breaking his foot 6 months ago, struck with a well placed flick.
India equalised through a penalty corner of their own midway into the second quarter, but it still looked like New Zealand were in control.
Coming out of the half-time break, though, India looked to assert themselves in the game and found themselves ahead 3 minutes in – although there were some questions as to whether the ball crossed the line or not with the video umpire being unable to conclusively decide, leaving the on-field call of a goal to stand.
New Zealand stuck with the game, however, and earned a number of opportunities in the third quarter. None were converted but it showed their intent.
The Kiwis won a penalty corner with 7 minutes remaining in the match and were able to convert, with Simon Child tallying his 148th NZ goal to bring the game level.
However, there was more late drama when India won a penalty stroke with two minutes remaining when the ball hit a defender’s foot just in front of the goal which they scored to take it to the final result of 3-2.
It doesn’t get any easier for New Zealand when they take on defending Olympic champions Belgium tomorrow 5.30pm local time, 3.30am NZT.
New Zealand
