Rio de Janeiro (Brazil): The Indian men’s hockey team, who have already qualified for the quarterfinals of the ongoing Rio Olympics, ended their group stage with a 2-2 draw against Canada here at Olympics Hockey Centre in Deodoro last evening .
After a goalless first-half, it was the world No.5 who broke the deadlock first in the 33rd minute through striker Akashdeep Singh, who did not miss the opportunity to convert a penalty corner into the goal.
Just few seconds later, Canada captain Scott Tupper led from the front to equalize the score against India with a successful penalty corner conversion.
It was in the 41st minute when India again took a lead. Defender Raghunath Vokkaliga drives one from the back towards Canada’s goalie Carter David which was deflected in by Ramandeep. India went into the final quarter leading 2-1 against Canada.
In the final quarter, India’s defence faltered again as Tupper pulled back one more goal for Cananda to deny skipper PR Sreejesh’ side a victory.
Despite suffering a 1-2 defeat at the hands of Netherlands, India had earlier qualified for the quarter-finals of the Rio Olympics after Germany were settled for a 4-4 draw against Argentina in their group clash.
India had last reached the final eight stage of the Olympics in the 2004 Athens edition after which they failed to qualify for the Beijing Games before finishing last in 2012 London Games.(ANI)