Hockey World Cup: Team India started with a bang, beat Spain in the first match

The Indian team has started its campaign in the Hockey World Cup 2023 with a bang. Team India defeated Spain 2-0 in the match held at Birsa Munda Stadium on Saturday (January 13). Amit Rohidas and Hardik Singh played an important role in the victory of the Indian team, who scored one goal each for their team. The Indian team will face England in their next match on 15 January.

This is how the first two quarters were

Team India got a penalty corner in the 11th minute of the first quarter, although Harmanpreet Singh could not score on it. After a few seconds, due to the dangerous play of the opposition player, India again got a penalty corner. This time the Indian team made no mistake in capitalizing on the opportunity and Amit Rohidas scored a goal to give the team a 1-0 lead. Then in the 13th minute of the game also, India got a penalty corner on which no goal was scored. 

Team India, which was leading 1-0 in the first quarter, performed brilliantly in the second quarter as well and completely dominated the opposition team. India's advantage of playing attacking hockey came in the 26th minute of the game when Hardik Singh scored a field goal. In this way, the Indian team went ahead 2-0 in the match and this score remained till halftime. If seen, in the first 30 minutes, Spain got only one penalty corner, on which its players could not score.

Harmanpreet could not score on penalty stroke

India got many chances to score in the third quarter as well. India also got a penalty stroke in the 32nd minute of the game, however, Harmanpreet could not score as the opposition goalkeeper made a brilliant save. Then even in the 37th and 43rd minute, India could not convert the penalty corner into a goal. In the fourth quarter-final, the Spanish team got two penalty corners, although they could not score. In this way, India finally won the match by 2-0.

Team India is in Group-D

In this World Cup, the top team from each group will directly advance to the quarter-finals and there will be crossover matches between the second and third placed teams. The Indian team has been placed in Group D along with Spain, England and Wales. England also defeated Wales 5–0 in the first match. The teams of Argentina and Australia also managed to win their first match. Argentina thrashed South Africa 1-0, while Australia thrashed France 8-0.

Apart from this, the Indian team has managed to win bronze in the 1971 World Cup and silver in the 1973 tournament.