Indian women's hockey team hold Ireland to 1-1 in first friendly
A brilliant save by Sarah Hawkshaw in the 45th Minute of the match resulted in India and Ireland playing out a 1-1 draw in the first friendly encounter. India's drag-flicker Gurjit Kaur scored in the very first half of the game to put India on top against a formidable Irish side from the beginning.
After drawing 2-2 with Spain in a four-match series, it was a determined effort by the Indian girls to secure a draw against a quality side in the very first encounter. India made their first moment of the match when they got a penalty corner opportunity in the fourth minute itself, but it went down due to some good defence of the Irish side.
India made up for that when they were awarded a penalty corner again in the 18th minute due to infringement caused by an Irish defender, and Gurjit Kaur made the most of this opportunity by putting the ball past the Irish keeper Emma Buckley to score the only goal for India.
But the next half of the game saw Sarah Hawkshaw brilliance in the field when she broke through the Indian defence to level the scores at 1-1. The visitors will now end their 10-day tour of Spain with the second and final friendly match against Ireland on Sunday.