Rio 2016 Hockey: Rupinder Pal Singh Brace Vs Ireland Helps India Break Olympic Jinx

Rupinder Pal Singh scored a pair of goals to help Indian men escape to a 3-2 win against Ireland in a group match of the Rio Olympics 2016 hockey competition on Saturday. VR Raghunath scored India's first goal but Ireland hit back with third and fourth quarters.

This was India's first win in an Olympic match after 12 years. Eight-time Olympic champions India last won a match in the Summer Games in 2004 in Sydney.

All five goals in the match came after penalty corners. Raghunath (15th) and Rupinder Pal (27th and 49th) scored out of India's seven short corners while Jermyn John (45th) and Conor Harte (56th) converted from the nine penalty corners that Ireland forced.

India play defending champions Germany next on Monday. India must win at least two of their group matches to keep their hopes alive for the quarterfinals. In another match in India's pool, Netherlands and Argentina finished 3-3.

Scary moments in final quarter for India

Ireland gave Indian some anxious moments in the final quarter. They forced four penalty corner in a space of four minutes and Harte's goal with four minutes left on the clock set up a thrilling finish.

India lost Ramandeep Singh in the final minutes due to a yellow card but their experience to play possession hockey helped the world No. 5 team win full points and a big slice of confidence ahead of the Germany match.

Sardar Singh was India's livewire in the match. The former captain was a bundle of energy as he ran back to defend, sprayed the passes and added muscle to attacks.

Ireland played the long ball but that did little harm to India's defence where skipper Sreejesh had a decent outing. The biggest takeaway from this win has been India's ability to convert from short corners.

Raghunath and Rupinder Pal's conversions had direction, power and precision. They will have to produce more of this as the tournament progresses.

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