Last Update: January 14, 2023, 17:25 IST
New Zealand Men’s Hockey Team (Twitter/@TheHockeyIndia)
Sam Hiha hit a bunch of field goals, while Sam Lane contributed a third as the Black Sticks scored all three of their goals in the first half.
New Zealand men’s team begins its campaign at the FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 with a 3-1 win over Chile in their Group C match at the Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium here on Saturday.
Sam Hiha hit a bunch of field goals, while Sam Lane contributed a third as the Black Sticks scored all three of their goals in the first half. Ignacio Contardo scored the lone goal for Chile in the 49th minute of the match.
New Zealand is ranked 9th in the world while Chile is ranked 22nd. Black Sticks would have liked to win the match by a big margin but it did not happen.
Sam Lane opened the scoring for New Zealand with a field goal in the ninth minute. New Zealand earned two penalty corners in quick succession, but could not convert them.
However, they could not be denied for long and Sam Hiha quickly converted his second penalty corner to make it 2-0 in the 11th minute. Chile scored their first goal against New Zealand in the 13th minute by earning their first penalty corner but failed to capitalize.
The New Zealanders took a 3–0 lead in the second quarter when Sam Hiha scored his second goal of the day. Chile got two penalty corners in this quarter but once again they could not find the goal.
The South American team created the better chances in the third quarter as they earned two penalty corners. New Zealand were left with 10 men when Sean Findley was shown a green card and sent to the sin bin.
New Zealand made some good attacks in the fourth quarter but could not score any more goals. They scored four PCs in this quarter but missed one goal.
Although Contardo reduced the gap for Chile in the 49th minute and he made some good attacks, his efforts proved in vain as the Black Sticks emerged victorious in the end.
The three points they earned bode well for New Zealand in their race for a quarter-final berth, which also features world number three Netherlands and 10th-ranked Malaysia as the other teams in Group C.
read all Latest sports news Here
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)