Lille (France):
Indian hockey team’s preparations for next month’s Olympic Games began on a confident note with a 8-2 route of France in the first of the two friendly matches here.
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After France scored first, SK Uthappa equalised for India while Sandeep Singh’s penalty corner strike gave India 2-1 lead. Gurvinder Singh Chandi made it 3-1 but France reduced the margin through a penalty corner variation just before the interval.
India added five more goals without reply in the second half. Two minutes after resumption, Shivendra Singh scored a field goal — a deflection off a VR Raghunath attempt — and backed it up with a second strike off a Gurbaj Singh pass within a minute.

Raghunath scored a penalty corner goal in the 40th minute to put India 6-2 ahead.Later, Sarvanjit Singh scored a field goal before Sandeep Singh, playing as centre forward, added a field goal to complete the rout.

source: http://www.daily.bhaskar.com / Home> Sports> Other Sports> News / PTI / Sunday, June 01st, 2012