Shockey!

The Indian menrsquos hockey team was pummelled 17 by World No 1 Australia in their second Pool A match of the Olympic Games here on Sunday a moraleshattering loss that exposed every possible chink in the sidersquos armourThe mighty Kookaburras simply toyed with the Indian defence after the first quarter and scored goals at will for their second consecutive win in the competition For India it was their biggest loss since Australian Graham Reid took charge of the team as coach in April 2019Australia looked dominant and were in complete control at the onset scoring goals through Daniel Beale 10th minute Joshua Beltz 26th Andrew Flynn Ogilvie 23rd Jeremy Hayward 21st Blake Govers 40th 42nd and Tim Brand 51st to secure the easy win Indiarsquos lone goal came from a Dilpreet Singh deflection 34thIndia had beaten New Zealand 32 in their opening fixture on SaturdayEighttime former champs India looked completely off colour as the teamrsquos backline was put under relentless pressure by the Australians In the first quarter India put up a semblance of fight but in the next 15 minutes it was all Australia pumping goals at will However it was India who had the first chance at the goal earning a penalty corner in the eighth minute but Harmanpreet Singh failed to deliver Two minutes later Australia surged ahead when Beale deflected in Jacob Whettonrsquos strike after a poor penalty corner executionA minute later Dilpreet missed a golden chance from close range to level the scores India were unlucky not to have equalised just seconds from the first quarter when Rupinder Pal Singhrsquos low flick from their second penalty corner was brilliantly saved at the goalline by Andrew Flynn Ogilvie The second quarter completely belonged to Australia as they scored three goals in a span of five minutes First Hayward found the net from Australiarsquos third penalty corner and then Ogilvie slammed home from the top right corner of the circle If that was not enough Beltz added to Indiarsquos misery with a fourth goal four minutes before halftime with a reverse hitThe Indians showed some spark after the change of ends and attacked the Australian goal in numbers securing three backtoback penalty corners but wasting allFour minutes into the third quarter Dilpreet infused some life into the game by pulling one back for India with a deflection India then wasted another penalty corner 40th minute when Mandeep Singh failed to deflect in Amit Rohidasrsquo layoffThe Kookaburras then got two quick goals through Goversmdashfirst from the penalty spot and then from a penalty corner Tim Brand rounded off the tally from a tight angle nine minutes from the hooterldquoWe are disappointed with this result We gave them easy opportunities and they scored We should be much tighter in our marking and whenever we get opportunities in the opponentrsquos circle we must score Today we missed a couple of good opportunitiesrdquo said a dejected India captain Manpreet India play Spain on TuesdayAlso Read IND vs SL Suryakumar Yadavs fifty bowlers help India to victory in first T20IThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever