Though borja lacalle

FIH Hockey Pro League: India's men's hockey team started its campaign on a disappointing note as Spain beat it 3-1 in a tough match of the FIH Hockey Pro League 2024-25 at the Kalinga Hockey Stadium here on Saturday. While Sukhjeet was the lone scorer for India, Borja Lacalle (28'), Ignacio Cobos (38'), and Bruno Avila (56') scored for the Spanish side to begin their India leg on a high.

It was India who were eager to get off the blocks with aggressive attacks in the first quarter as they employed high pressure to restrict the Spanish players from making any headway early in the game.

The hosts created plenty of opportunities in the opening quarter with a PC coming their way as early as the third minute of the game. But Jugraj's flick didn't make the post and was cleared by Spain's first rusher. In the 14th minute, India came close to taking the lead when a fine pass by Abhishek was picked up brilliantly by Lalit Upadhyay, who made a brilliant run in. But when he looked up to see if he could make an assist, there was no one inside the circle, forcing him to take the shot anyway, which went wide off-target.