Rio De Janeiro: Featuring in the Olympics after a gap of 36 years, the India women’s team made a strong comeback in their campaign opener to play a 2-2 draw against Japan here today.
Despite an attacking start by India in the first ten minutes of the first quarter, Japan dominated the first half of the game, scoring two goals towards the end of the first and second quarter.The Indian women lost two close chances in the first quarter as Preeti Dubey and Poonam Rani missed the target.
At the end of the second quarter, the Indian eves were 0-2 down.However, India made a brilliant comeback in the game in the third quarter as two back to back goals from Rani Rampal and Lilima Minz equalized the score for India. Both the goals for India came from penalty corners. Emie Nishikori and Mie Nakashima were the two scorers for Japan.India will now take on Britain in their second encounter of Pool B. (UNI)