Honours even for India, New Zealand
A resurgent New Zealand held India 3-3 in their final Pool B league encounter of the FIH men’s World League Round 3 match in Rotterdam, Holland, on Monday.
India are currently third in their group and will either face Belgium or Australia — Pool A toppers and runners-up after completion of league matches — and their final group placing will depend on the Ireland-Holland match later in the evening.
New Zealand opened the scoring through Marcus Child early in the game. India emerged stronger in the second half, scoring through Mandeep Singh and V.R. Raghunath before Stephen Jenness pulled the Kiwis level.
Kothajit Singh put India ahead 3-2 scoring a field goal, but a defensive lapse from the Men in Blue saw them lose the advantage. Blair Hilton scored the equaliser with minutes to go for the hooter as both teams shared points.
Belgium top Group A; Aussies second
Earlier, a five goal burst from Jamie Dwyer saw Australia rout France 7-1 in their final Pool A league game, while Belgium played out a 1-1 draw against Spain to top the pool.
Locked in a fierce battle, Spain scored an own goal with two minutes left in the first half to give Belgium the advantage.
Spain came out stronger in the second half and were finally rewarded when David Alegre pulled them level with 12 minutes to go.
In the end, Belgium hung on for the draw.
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Thai gpg champ Srikanth up for Singapore open
Singapore, June 17: Thailand Open champion K. Srikanth will look to continue his rampaging form and qualify for the main draw when he begins his campaign in the Singapore Super Series badminton tournament on Tuesday.
Seeded second in the qualifiers, Srikanth will take on Henri Hurskainen of Sweden in the opener.
Among other Indians, H.S. Prannoy will face Finland’s Ville Lang while senior shuttler Arvind Bhat will meet Ireland’s Scott Evans.
B. Sai Praneeth, who spoilt former world and Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat’s farewell in the Indonesian Super Series Premier, will clash with Japan’s Kento Momota in the qualifiers.
In the women’s singes qualifiers, P.C. Thulasi will be up against Kaori Imabeppu, while Arundhati Pantawane will face Russia’s Anna Astrakhantseva.
Jwala Gutta and Prajakta Sawant will lock horns with local players Wei Han Tan and Dellis Yuliana in the women’s doubles qualifying event, while in the mixed doubles competition, Arun Vishnu and Aparna Balan will square off against the Thai combo of Patiphat Chalardchaleam and Jongkonphan Kittiharakul.
— PTI
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