FIH Women's Hockey Pro League 2023-24: Gritty Indians go down fighting 2-3 against Great Britain
The Indian women came up with a gritty show before going down fighting to Great Britain 2-3 in the London leg of the FIH Women's Hockey Pro League on Sunday, June 2.
Harendra Singh, who made five changes to the side that lost to Germany, watched his team go on the defensive early after conceding a penalty stroke that Charlotte Watson converted.
Watson then scored a second goal a minute later which swung the momentum in favour of the home side. Not to be undone, Navneet Kaur's solo effort reduced the margin just after half-time before Sharmila Devi found a late equalizer despite the Indians being a player down.
Isabelle Petter scored off a short corner immediately after to hand the Indians their sixth consecutive defeat in the ongoing Hockey Pro League.
A clumsy obstruction from Udita in the circle helped Great Britain earn a penalty stroke in the second minute. Charlotte Watson made no mistake from the spot before having a chance to double the lead off an assist from Lily Walker but was denied by Savita Punia.
Seconds later Watson did score a brace much to the dismay of the Indians who made five changes from the side that lost to Germany in their Hockey Pro League game on Saturday.
Great Britain continued to enjoy a lion's share of the possession earning a penalty corner in the tenth minute but the hosts failed to get the variation right. Anne Toman took Great Britain's second penalty corner in the 15th minute but failed to find a teammate who was in position to tap the deflection home.
Salima Tete did well to angle one in towards Vandana Katariya as India managed to launch a foray against the run of play in the 24th minute before Sharmila Devi picked up a five-minute yellow card.
Martha Taylor failed to latch on to one in the striking circle just before half-time as the Great Britain girls continued to keep their feet on the pedal.
Navneet Kaur scored a spectacular goal off a solo run in the 34th minute to keep the Indians in the hunt. Indian earned a couple of penalty corners two minutes later but failed to convert both.
Sharmila Devi's stunning run helped India draw level in the 56th minute just after Lalremsiami had picked up a yellow card. India's joy was short-lived as Isabelle Petter beat Savita from close range to direct a short corner deflection into the back of the net in the 57th minute.
The Indians earned five penalty corners in total while Great Britain earned three.
Indian women hoping to avoid relegation after five consecutive losses in Hockey Pro League
With two matches left to play in this season's FIH Hockey Pro League, the Indian women's team are placed seventh on the points table.
The Indians will be hoping that the USA who have just one point from 13 games do not manufacture miracle wins at the tail-end of the competition which could then lead to relegation for Salima Tete and company.
The side finishing bottom of the points table at the end of the competition will face relegation to the Nations Cup next season.
As of now, the Indian women have eight points from 14 games and will need to play out of their skins to upset either Great Britain or Germany in order to add to their points tally next weekend.