India stun England, set up New Zealand semis
gold coast — Varun Kumar and Mandeep Singh struck in dying minutes of the game as the Indian men’s hockey team pulled off a thrilling 4-3 win over England to top Pool B in the Commonwealth Games on Wednesday.
It was Varun Kumar (59th minute) who scored the 3-3 equaliser through a well-struck penalty corner before Mandeep Singh (60’) scored the winner. Rupinder Pal Singh (51’) and Manpreet Singh (33’) were the other goal scorers for India while David Condon (17’), Liam Ansell (52’) and Sam Ward (56’) struck for England.
India’s final league game also decided their semifinal opponents. They will take on New Zealand while England will face defending champions Australia. It was Manpreet’s fierce strike from the midfield that found a deflection off Mandeep’s stick and ensured a sensational win for India.
“This kind of hard work on field is what we trained for in the last few weeks in Bengaluru where we paid a lot of attention to discipline and winning mentality. I’m happy this has come in the right moment in the tournament after an average start,” said chief coach Sjoerd Marijne.
Talking about the semifinal against New Zealand, the coach said: “I want the team to keep up this winning momentum. New Zealand are a good team, they did well against Australia and I want our boys to soak up this energy from this match against England and focus on the semifinal.”
It was a tussle to the top spot in Pool B and both India and England lived up to the billing with entertaining hockey, pushing each other hooter-to-hooter.
Meanwhile, India’s high jumper Tejaswin Shankar and quarter-miler Hima Das finished sixth in the final of their respective events.
In the men’s high jump final, Tejaswin missed his third attempt at 2.27 metres and finished at 2.24m to finish sixth in the 12-men final while finished sixth in the women’s 400 metre final with a personal best of 51.32 sec.
Brandon Starc of Australia bagged the gold with a 2.32m while Silver went to Jamal Wilson (2.30m). Django Lovett settled for bronze in the high jump final.
Meanwhile, Hima Das finished sixth with a personal best of 51.32 sec. The gold medal went to Amantle Montsho of Botswana while the silver went to Anastasia Le-Roy of Jamaica. Stephenie McPherson settled for bronze.