By Daniel Leussink
TOKYO (Reuters) – Australia won their third straight match in the men’s hockey tournament at the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday after scoring five goals against Argentina, while India beat Spain.
Australia’s Kookaburras scored four goals by halftime, recovering after conceding a goal in the fourth minute as the match got underway in rainy conditions. They finished the match 5-2.
“It was a good grind that first five, ten minutes,” said Andrew Charter, Australia’s goalkeeper.
“We did concede one but at the same time, we had a couple of opportunities. This is international hockey – you’re not going to go through a game without any opportunities against you.”
Australia pulled alongside their South American opponents with less than a minute to go until the end of the opening quarter, when forward Blake Govers scored a penalty corner, confirming his reputation as a penalty corner specialist.
That was followed by three more goals in the second quarter and one after the break, giving Australia – which earlier beat Japan 5-3 and India 7-1 in their first two games – the maximum nine points out of three matches.
“These first three games are shaping up really well,” said goalie Charter.
“We haven’t had a chance to test ourselves against much competition (in the run-up to the Olympics), except New Zealand.”
Elsewhere in the men’s competition, India booked their second victory of the Tokyo Games, wrapping up a closely fought match against Spain 3-0, with goals by defender Rupinder Pal Singh and midfielder Simranjeet Singh.
The score belied the fact that India had slightly fewer attacking circle penetrations and somewhat less ball possession than their European opponents.
(Reporting by Daniel Leussink; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
