Late Goals Sink India, Lose 2-3 to Australia

There was no end to Indian men's hockey team's woes in the FIH Pro League as the side slumped to its fifth straight defeat, losing 2-3 to Australia despite leading the contest by two goals after Abhishek's brace here on Saturday.

- Press Trust of India

ANTWERP:

The Indian team has already lost twice to Netherlands and Argentina in the tournament.

Starting strong, India took a 2-0 lead by the 35th minute through Abhishek's (8th, 35th minutes) brace.

But the Kookaburras came out all attacking after the change of ends, scoring through Nathan Ephraums (42nd), and two penalty corner conversions by Joel Rintala (56th) and Tom Craig (60th) to secure the win.

After suffering four close defeats against Netherlands and Argentina in their first four matches of the European leg of Pro League, the Indians looked a motivated lot against Australia and dominated the share of exchanges in the first two quarters. The Indians were without skipper and ace drag-flicker Harmanpreet Singh as he has been rested due to an injury suffered in the last match against Argentina.