Muscat: The Indian men’s hockey team opened its FIH Hockey5s Men’s World Cup Oman 2024 campaign with a brilliant 9-1 victory against Switzerland but lost 6-8 to Egypt in Pool B encounters here on Sunday.
India’s opening match against Switzerland commenced with both teams aggressively attacking from the start. After numerous close attempts by both sides, Mohammed Raheel (6′) of India broke the deadlock with a powerful shot, putting his team in the lead.
Shortly after, Mandeep Mor (11′) doubled India’s advantage by finding the back of the net. Raheel (12′) then scored his second goal, strengthening India’s position. Just before halftime, Mor (15′) scored again, making it 4-0 in favour of India.
In the second half, India shifted focus to ball possession to thwart Switzerland’s comeback attempts while maintaining an intense offensive strategy. The tactic proved successful as India not only held Switzerland but also saw Maninder Singh (19′, 22′, 26′, 28′) scoring four quick goals. Also, Raheel (28′) completed his hat-trick, further extending India’s lead.
In the meantime, Switzerland managed to pull one back through Captain Gael Wyss-Chodat (24′). However, it didn’t make much of a difference as the match concluded with a dominating 9-1 victory for India.
In their second Pool B match of the day, India went down 6-8 against Egypt in a thrilling encounter. India took an early lead in the match courtesy of a solid field goal by Pawan Rajbhar (3’), but Egypt quickly bounced back in the game as Hossameldin Ragab (5’, 9’) netted two goals, while Ahmed Elganaini (7’) and Amr Sayed (12’) also scored a goal each to put their team ahead.
With the scoreline not in their favour, India increased their frequency of attacks, following which Mohammed Raheel (14’) scored a Challenge Goal to reduce India’s deficit. However, Ahmed Elnaggar (15’, 19’) scored a brace, while Amr Sayed (18’) and Ahmed Elganaini (25’) netted their second goals of the match to extend Egypt’s lead.
Meanwhile, for India, Pawan Rajbhar (21’, 29’) netted two more goals to complete his hat-trick, while Uttam Singh (25’), and Manjeet (30’) also scored a goal each, but that didn’t help India’s cause as Egypt won the match 8-6.
India will next take on Jamaica in their third and final Pool B match on January 29.
–IANS