South Africa adds another feather to its cap Oct. 24, 2003 Jaiwantika Dutta-Dhupkar
Hockey Women - South Africa bts India by 3-1
In a brilliant replay of its win against Kazakhstan yesterday, South Africa beat India 3-1 on the latter's home turf in today's women's Hockey match at the GMC Balayogi stadium, Hyderabad.
India failed to make any headway in the first half of the game and repeated efforts by Chanu and Subhadra Pradhan came to naught. Eventually, Chanu's aggressive play earned her a yellow card in the later half of the match. South Africans were in full form and clearly on the warpath, as star of the match Coetzee Pietie gave her team a head start by scoring the game's first goal in the 20th minute. The spunky lady then drove another field -goal home in the 24th minute, giving the Indians a lot to make up for.
In the second half of the play, Pietie took charge again, determined to make it her day. She scored yet another Field goal in the 42nd minute. India saw a ray of hope when Suman Bala snatched a penalty corner for her country in the 47th minute. However, the odds were high and the competition tough, and it was all Waikhom's girls could do to keep their goal clear.
Desperate defending by goalie Helen Innocent finally bore fruit, as the Indians succeeded in keeping the South Africans off their goal-turf till the end of the match. The Indian supporters turned up in full force and heartily cheered their team in the hope that their moral support would work a miracle. South Africa had her fair share of supporters too, and the crowd made up for their density by their exuberance.
All in all, it was an action-packed match, with never a dull minute for either the teams or their audience.
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