Breaking News: Gold Coast 2018: India beats Wales 4-3 in a nail biting finish
Breaking News: Gold Coast 2018: India beats Wales 4-3 in a nail biting finish: Known for conceding last minute goals, India turned it other way to notch up dying minutes 4-3 win over fighting Wales in XXIst Commonwealth Games Hockey competition for men at Gold Coast on Sunday. It was India's day as in the first match of the day, Indian girls caused a flutter by toppling Olympic champions England 2-1. And men team followed it up with a virtual last minute goal win over Wales. A hat-trick of goals by drag flicker Goreth Furlong did try to neutralise Indian lead thrice but his efforts were not enough to get a point for his team in this crucial pool game today. India after a disappointing draw against traditional arch rivals Pakistan needed a win desperately to stay in hunt for a place in semi-finals from the pool. Though Wales had only an outside chance of making last four grade from the pool as it had played 1-1 draw against Pakistan and lost 0-3 to Malaysia, it did give India a tough fight. Young Dilpreet Singh, who like match against Pakistan, gave India 1-0 lead in the beginning of the second quarter with a good deflection. But the Indian joy was short-lived as Goreth Furlong made no mistake from the second penalty corner award with a powerful flick. India's major weaknesses - fragile defence against good drag flickers and inability to make full use of penalty corner awards coming its way - were again exposed and exploited by the Wales. The Europeans converted three of four penalty corners - all by Goreth Furlong - and conceded only two goals from 11 penalty corners earned by India. After the Furlong's first goal that brought the teams at par in the 18th minute, it was Mandeep Singh who put India ahead from a goalmouth melee that was sequel to rebound from a penalty corner. Again Furlong came in to retire honours for Wales. In the fourth and last quarter when Harmanpreet Singh put India ahead with a powerful flick, Furlong did not take long to restore parity with another splendid conversion. The fate of the match was left to winger SV Sunil, who with less than 80 seconds to go, narrowed in to five India a splendid win. India has now four points from two games and shares the top position in the table with England who were held to a 2-2 draw by Pakistan earlier in the day. New Zealand hammered South Africa 6-0 in another game in men's section.
