Rajgir: Two of India’s goals were disallowed following video referrals, Harmanpreet Singh failed to convert a penalty stroke in the third quarter and they conceded three goals from the penalty corners. Despite all of that, India did enough to win their Asia Cup opener against China 4-3 at the Rajgir Sports Complex on Friday.Once again it was their talismanic skipper Harmanpreet who led from the front scoring a hat-trick while Jugraj Singh scored the other goal – all coming from PCs – as the Indian team huffed and puffed over the finishing line in front of a raucous crowd that came out in numbers irrespective of the heat.Despite the win, neither the players nor coach Craig Fulton were too happy with the performance against a side that looked revitalised and has come down here with a 11-member support staff, including the coach and four assistant coaches.“We got into a good position and then we made some mistakes, but we always had another gear to get to, and it was nice that in the second half we got some PCs and converted. Unfortunate to not score the stroke but that’s okay. I think we played well enough to win the game, but we didn’t play well,” said Fulton after the match on Friday.At the end of the day, however, he was pleased with the win. “I’ve been in a lot of games where you don’t always play well but you get the win and that’s as important as getting the win and playing well,” he added.India will now have to gather themselves and recuperate ahead of another difficult encounter against Japan, also to be held in the afternoon session, on Sunday. Meanwhile, China, who also had a goal disallowed during the match, will take on Kazakhstan.Earlier, after a delayed pushback India began the match well and Mandeep Singh scored within the opening minutes, but it was disallowed as the video umpire ruled that he had pushed his marker before scoring. China took advantage of it and took the lead in the 12th minute after Shihao Du converted their first PC of the match.Not only the crowd but even the players looked taken aback but they fought back and grabbed their second PC late in the first quarter. However, Harmanpreet failed to keep it on target as the hooter went off.After the break, India upped their tempo and grabbed two quick PCs. This time Jugraj scored the first to help India equalise and then Harmanpreet made it 2-1.
Poll
Was it fair for Mandeep Singh’s goal to be disallowed by the video umpire?
Three minutes into the third quarter, Harmanpreet scored his second to extend India’s lead, but China pulled one back two minutes later. Later, the Indian captain had a great chance to wrap it up but failed to convert a penalty stroke and China made it 3-3 with four minutes left in the third quarter.With all to play for in the last quarter, India pushed hard and grabbed three back-to-back PCs and this time Harmanpreet did not fail to deliver. He scored a rocket off the last one into the top-right corner and there was nothing that the Chinese goalkeeper could do to keep it out.China did try hard to get another equaliser and with Jarmanpreet Singh getting a yellow card late in the game, they did have an advantage. But India held on well to grab the win.In the other matches of the day, Malaysia earned a 4-1 win against Bangladesh in the opener, South Korea beat Chinese Taipei 7-0 and Japan handed Kazakhstan a 7-0 routing.
