In another heated match, Manpreet Sandhu led team won against Olympic champions Argentina scoring 3-1 on Thursday. This was the fourth Pool A match played by the national team at the Oi Hockey Stadium.
With this victory, the national team is set to book a place in the Quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympics.
The air in the podium was in favour of India when Manpreet Singh and his men swiftly attacked in the match. Team players Varun Kumar, Vivek Sagar Prasad and Harmanpreet Singh scored goals for India in 43rd, 58th and 59th minutes respectively. While for Argentina Maico Casella hit a goal in the 48th minute.
Although India secured two penalty strokes in a row in the 41st minute but was unable to convert them. Speedily enough, Argentina protested with Matias Rey, who returned to the field after a five-minute suspension, going toe-to-toe with PR Sreejesh. But the Indian goalkeeper averted the attack with the appearance of Varun Kumar, who twitched the ball away.
Till now India has played four matches and is at the second position with nine points, Australia being at the number one position with 12 points, followed by Spain (4 points), New Zealand (4 points), Argentina (4 points) and Japan (1 point). For every win, each team is awarded three points. The top four teams from each group will play in the quarter-finals.
India will face host Japan on Friday. This will be the final group match for the national team.
