Grace steward

Chief Coach Harendra Singh: The Indian women’s hockey team showed plenty of fight but went down 0-2 against Australia in the third game of their Australia tour, at the Perth Hockey Stadium on Thursday. Courtney Schonell (9’) opened the scoring for the hosts in the first quarter before Grace Stewart (52’) added a second in the final phase to seal the result. Following two encounters with Australia A, this was India's first clash against the Australian team.

Australia asked questions of India’s defence, winning an early penalty corner, but the scoreline remained unchanged. Australia eventually broke the deadlock in the ninth minute when Courtney Schonell found the back of the net, to give her team the lead. The hosts threatened to double their lead with another penalty corner but could not secure their second goal of the quarter.

The second quarter saw India come out eager to show their intent. Two penalty corners came India’s way in quick succession, but the equaliser eluded them. However, despite their growing impact on the game, India went into a half-time break trailing by a goal.