Olympic Hockey Qualifiers: Rani's late goal seals Tokyo ticket for women despite losing 1-4 to US
Bhubaneswar, Nov 2: Skipper Rani Rampal's 48th minute strike sealed Tokyo Olympics berth for the Indian women's hockey team as they pipped USA 6-5 on aggregate despite losing 1-4 in the second leg of the FIH Qualifier here on Saturday.
After thrashing USA 5-1 on Friday, it was expected to be a formality for the Indian women but they were given a real scare by the USA women, who raced to a 4-0 lead at the halfway mark.
However the partisan fans went into raptures when Rani pulled one back to maintain the slender lead till final hooter.
Indian women have now qualified for back-to-back Olympics having sealed it in Rio de Janeiro after a gap of 36 years. The women's team first participated in the Quadrennial extravaganza in 1980 where the men's team last won their gold medal.
On Saturday, Indian women looked a pale shadow of themselves as USA took full advantage of their complacency during the first two quarters.
Amanda Magadan (5th, 28th minutes), skipper Kathleen Sharkey (14th) and Alyssa Parker (20th) scored for the visiting side.
Pushed to the wall after being forced to recover from a four goal deficit following the 1-5 defeat in the first-leg on Friday, the American girls meant business from the onset as they not only dominated the proceedings in the first quarter, but also pumped in two goals to stun the home team.
The Indians played catch-up hockey and found it difficult to counter USA's persistent attacks from the onset. It was a completely different scenario from Friday's match as the Indians were found wanting, struggling to get the control of the ball.
USA made a lively start to the contest as they earned two penalty corners minutes into the match but failed to execute the chances on both occasions.
The Americans' positive intent soon bore fruit when they took the lead in the fifth minute through a brilliant penalty corner deflection goal by Amanda Magadan.
Determined to not give up without a fight, USA continued their onslaught and doubled their lead in the 13th minute when US skipper Sharkey pounced on a defensive error and punishing India's failure to clear their lines by firing into the bottom right corner.
USA continued in the same vein and tripled their lead five minutes into the second quarter when Alyssa Parker fired high into the net after receiving a pass from Danielle Grega after the India defence was caught off guard yet again.
Two minutes later, India secured back-to-back penalty corners but wasted both the opportunities.
Moments after India's Navneet Kaur was shown a yellow card, USA created a chance for Amanda Magadan, who made absolutely no mistake, smashing powerfully into the bottom left corner for her second goal of the game to wipe out the four goal deficit.
The third quarter started on a scrappy note as both the teams struggled to retain possession. After the change of ends, India looked to get their acts together to some extent.
Five minutes into the quarter, India secured a penalty corner but Gurjit Kaur's effort went wide of the post.
After the change of ends, India showed signs of coming back into game, but USA defended in numbers and to keep the hosts at bay as the third quarter ended with the visitors leading 4-0 and the aggregate scoreline standing at 5-5.
India secured a penalty corner in the 43rd minute but Gurjit's flick once again failed to trouble USA goalkeeper Kelsey Bing.
Locked at 5-5 on aggregate scoreline, it took an inspirational strike from Rani in the 48th minute from a loose ball to reduce the margin and hand India the vital lead.
The Americans were awarded a penalty corner four minutes from full time but the decision was overturned after India went for the referral.
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Killing of Khamenei cynical violation of human morality, international law: Putin
Moscow (PTI): The killing of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was a cynical violation of all norms of human morality and international law, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared in his message to his Tehranian counterpart, the Kremlin said Sunday.
Khamenei was killed in an airstrike in Tehran on Saturday during a joint Israel-US attack on Iran.
“Please accept my deepest condolences in connection with the assassination of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and members of his family, committed in a cynical violation of all norms of human morality and international law,” Putin said in his condolence message.
Putin's condolence message to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was published on the Kremlin portal.
Earlier on Saturday, Russia condemned the US-Israeli joint strikes on Iran qualifying it as an “unprovoked” aggression against a sovereign state in violation of international law and called for immediate return to diplomacy.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also described the US and Israeli forces' strikes against the Iranian territory as “a pre-planned” act of aggression against an independent UN member state.
Putin also conducted an emergency meeting of the National Security Council online on Saturday to discuss the emerging situation following the US-Israeli strikes and Iran’s retaliation.
Meanwhile, according to reports more than 2,00,000 Russians are stuck in the region due to closure of their airspaces by Iran and Gulf countries.
The situation in the Middle East and the airport closures have affected not only organised tourists from Russia registered with tour operators, but also those travelling on business trips and independently, state-run TASS news agency reported.
“Approximately 2,00,000 people are unable to leave the UAE or return from vacations in the Maldives and other countries,” Alexey Volkov, president of the National Union of Hospitality Industry, told TASS.
UAE and its airports have become a main hub of access to Russia since the Ukraine conflict and closure of EU air space for civilian air traffic under sanction on Moscow.
“The situation remains complex and unpredictable: drone and missile strikes have hit key tourist locations in the UAE, including its most famous hotels.
“And then there are those who aren't counted as tourists at all, but are travelling around the world for business—the Middle East, for example, is currently a major business hub, home to a significant amount of Russian capital, investment, and business,” Volkov said.
