When Varun Kumar scored India's first goal against Argentina on Thursday, he would have loved to run and celebrate like his idol Cristiano Ronaldo.
Except that, taking into account the total clumsiness and shreds of good luck in his drag-flick, what he found was an unintentional shoulder on the face of the Argentine first runner, dragging him to the blue field at the Oi Hockey Stadium. Had been. Varun had indeed made a good connection with his penalty corner (PC), but a deflection had choked goalkeeper Juan Vivaldi, making it almost impossible to adjust his glove in good time.
Varun, however, kept his eye on the trajectory of the ball and as it fell, his teammates gathered to congratulate him. It was Varun's first game at the Tokyo Olympics, and he had created moments after saving his team from an embarrassing situation at the other end.
Argentina's Matias Rey had ended his two-minute suspension, and with the entire Indian team heavily parked by pushback on the Argentine side of the pitch, he saw a stray ball along the flanks as it replayed. were ready for. Ray picks it up and tries to catch PR Sreejesh inadvertently, but Sreejesh reads the danger and comes out of his line to close the angle. However, he needed companionship, and Varuna could be seen swiftly going back to defend the vacant post on his guard's left. Sreejesh dives to buy some time and Ray fails to save the ball from Varun, who has built up a lot of ground in a short span of time.
Growing up in Mithapur, Punjab, Varun was only interested in sports. However, Mithapur is also home to Pargat Singh, the captain of India's Olympic teams in Barcelona in 1992 and Atlanta 1996, and arguably the biggest hockey hero of the last two generations. Also, his friend at school was a certain Manpreet Singh, who wears the captain's armband in Tokyo. Varun will play a major role in India's Junior Hockey World Cup win in Lucknow in 2016, with a short corner battery in Tokyo alongside Harmanpreet Singh, one of India's two vice-captains.
Coach Graham Reid deserves some credit here too - for the second game in a row, an alternate player, provided as a Covid cover to each team's original roster of 16, has started a game and made an impact. Is. Simranjit Singh replaced Gurjant Singh in the team for the win against Spain and here Varun made his place by resting veteran Birender Lakra. The Argentine came back with his PC and attacked with high intensity in the final quarter.
This opened in itself, and India came back with two goals, to claim their first win at the Olympics, since the final victory against Pakistan in 1964, also in Tokyo. Vivek Prasad, one of India's Olympic debutants (10 off 16, 12 off 18 if you include substitutes) scored India's second in the morning, now assured of a second place behind Australia.
They were due for a change of pace in a match where Argentina successfully disappointed India in defense for the bulk of the first three quarters due to Varun's alertness and versatility. A new player is taking the field for the second game in a row, and the depth they have in their squad is a great sign for India with the knockouts.