Indian Eves Overcome Pugnacious Ghana in Commonwealth Games Opener

It was very much on expected lines that the Indian hockey eves would taught a ‘hockey lesson’ to a side like Ghana that does not have much of a reputation with a world ranking of 30. But surprisingly, it was Ghana who probably taught a lesson or two on how to defend against a formidable opponent like India. The Ghananian women ensured one thing – it won’t be a stroll in the pitch for the Janneke Schopman-coached Indian outfit – of course, the Indian women won their Commonwealth Games opener 5-0 and the statsbooks would always say that, but the pugnacity of Ghana cannnot be missed from this match.

The African side, coached by former Pakistan men’ team captain and Olympian Ghazanfar Ali (he took charge of the side earlier this year), fought tooth and nail but it cannot be denied that Indian women lacked cohesion and their performance leave a lot to be desired despite the 5-0 win. A Gurjit Kaur penalty corner goal gave India an early lead – she added one more later even rookie Sangita Kumar scored a brace off some help from the Ghananian backline. Salima Tete rounded off the tally.

The Indian eves could convert one from 10 shorties and have a lot of room for improvement in the coming games. One hopes that the Indian women would raise their game by several notches and come up stronger against England, Wales, and Canada.