New Delhi: Indian eves defeated Poland 3-0 in their third match of the Olympic Qualifiers to lead the pool table at the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium, here. The Rani trio, Ritu Rani, Rani Rampal and Poonam Rani were the scorers from India.
Indians started slowly in the first half; Poland controlled the ball will in the initial minutes of the game and rarely got an opportunity to penetrate the Polish defence.
The first breakthrough for the Polish came in the 13th minute but Yogita Bali did brilliantly to stop the visiting team to score the opening goal of the match, the ball deflected from the goal keeper and India got the opportunity in the counter attack, Poonam Rani gave the pass to Ritu Rani who had an open goal in front of her and scored which will be considered as one of the easiest goal in her career.
The rest of the half Indian were on the attack but Poland defended well.
After the change of sides India attacked from the word go and got the result in the 36th minute when Rani Rampal defeated three Polish players to come up with India’s second goal.
After the second goal India got three back to back penalty corners but failed to convert any. Poland returned the favor by getting their three short corners in five minutes to build the pressure on the host, but they too like the host failed to convert any of the penalty corners into a goal.
It was followed by India missing two chances in the 52nd minute on both the occasion they had only the goalkeeper to beat. The third Indian goal came in the 62nd minute when another Rani, Poonam Rani got into the act and converted Deepika Thakur’s pass into the goal.
By Gaurav Jha
Indian Sports News
