India defeats New Zealand 3-2 in men's hockey Olympics opener

Paris: The Indian men's hockey team had an exciting opening round match at the Paris Olympics on Saturday, defeating New Zealand 3-2.

Sam Lane gave New Zealand the lead with their first penalty corner in the eighth minute, but it was not an easy victory.

But India bounced back strongly to first level the scores in the 24th minute through Mandeep Singh, who scored from a rebound off a penalty corner and then took the lead through Vivek Sagar Prasad in the third quarter.

New Zealand, however, drew level in the 53rd minute through Simon Child. But skipper Harmanpreet Singh ensured the win for India, scoring from a penalty stroke just a minute from the hooter.

India will play Argentina in their next Pool B match on Monday.

With PTI inputs