Indian U-18 Men’s Hockey Team lose to Australia 3-4 in their fourth match of the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games

Buenos Aires (Argentina), 11 October 2018: The Indian U-18 Men’s Hockey Team lost 3-4 to Australia in their fourth match of the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games held here at the Parque Polideportivo Roca on Wednesday. India’s Captain Vivek Sagar Prasad (6′, 18’) scored twice and Anand Shivam (20′) scored once in the keenly-fought contest.

India started the match well as they took three shots at the Australian goal inside the first 40 seconds. But the opponents wrested the initiative at the start of the 2^nd minute scoring the opening goal of the match via Miles Davis. India kept pushing for the equaliser as skipper Vivek Sagar Prasad and Maninder Singh’s attempt on the goal were kept out by Australian goalkeeper Jed Snowden. But Australia in a counter-attacking move doubled their lead in the 3^rd minute through James Collins. The Indian team continued their attack on the Australian goal and their intent paid dividend in the 6^th minute as Vivek Sagar Prasad opened India’s account. At half time, the scorecard read 2-1 in Australia’s favour.

India continued to press for an equaliser and came out in the second half with more intent. India had five attempts at the goal which substitute goalkeeper Chris Starkie did well to keep them at bay. Australia, once again on the counter, scored a third goal late into the second half via Alistair Murray in the 17^th minute. Indian Captain took the matter in his hands scoring India’s second immediately and bringing down the deficit to one goal. Marais Bradley gave Australia a 4-2 lead in the 19^th minute. With a minute to go, India still pursued to bring parity and in the 20^th minute got one back through Shivam Anand. Australia regrouped and defended well in the last minute as another shot at goal from Shivam Anand in the last minute was stopped by Australian goalkeeper. The match ended at 4-3 in Australia.

The Indian team will now face Canada in their fifth match of the Hockey 5s competition on Thursday, 11th October 2018, at 21.45hrs IST.