The Indian men's hockey team threw away the lead twice as they drew 2-2 with Canada in their last group game on Friday to finish with seven points at the end of the group stage. Akashdeep and Ramandeep Singh were India's goal-scorers.
Canada, who had conceded 20 goals in four games, shut shop for the first two quarters and India laid siege to the Canadian goal for long periods of time but were unable to engineer a breakthrough.
India had two penalty corners but were unable to convert both as they found Canada's goal-keeper David Carter in sublime form.
Sardar Singh, captaining the side on the day, was running the show in midfield and carved out decent chances for the forward line who were unable to convert. Nikkin Thimmaiah was particularly wasteful, as he flashed a gilt-edged chance wide, just short of the halfway mark.
Canada had a couple of good chances themselves, but were denied by some last-ditch defending by the Indians.
The Indians finally found a breakthrough in the 33rd minute. India earned a penalty corner which was saved only for the rebound to fall to Akashdeep Singh who lashed it in, beating Carter at his near post.
India's lead was short-lived as good work from Canada's Sukhi Panesar saw the Indians give away a penalty corner. Canadian captain Scott Tupper flicked the resulting corner goalwards, only for the ball to squeeze under the keeper, PR Sreejesh making a rare mistake to let Canada tie the scores at 1-1, 49 seconds after India had scored.
Canada thought that they had another goal after four minutes but the goal was deemed illegal due to an obstruction by a Canadian player.
Then, with five minutes left to go in the quarter, VR Raghunath sent a raking pass into the heart of the opposition penalty box which found Ramandeep Singh. The 23-year old from Punjab then touched the ball in from close distance as India regained their lead.
The fourth quarter started with India attacking, but Canada showed superb resilience to hit back once again. As Nikkin Thimmaiah earned himself a yellow card, Tupper scored a carbon copy of his first goal, the ball once again squeezing under Sreejesh who had one of his off days in goal.
With three minutes to go, India decided to throw all caution to the wind as Sreejesh was sent forward by coach Roelant Oeltmans. The men in blue kept attacking till the end, but could not score a third as Canada held on to score their first point of the Games.
India finished their group stage engagements with seven points from four games. Argentina can leapfrog India into third spot if they draw or win against Ireland. If India were to finish fourth, then they will face the the toppers from Group A, currently Belgium.
