India beat Spain 3-2.

INDIA : Baljeet Singh Dhillon (19, 42 min), Dileep Tirkey (31 min)
SPAIN : Xavier Ribas (22 m), Josep Sanchez (48 min)

INDIA : 2 penalty corners - 2 converted, 1 penalty stroke - 1 converted
SPAIN : 7 penalty corners, 1 converted

India had a favourable record against Spain in recent Olympics, beating them 4-3 in the final at Moscow (1980), 4-3 in Los Angeles (1984) and 3-1 in Atlanta (1996). Only in Barcelona (1992), hosts Spain beat India 2-0.

Spain's danger men were their trio of forwards - Xavier Arnau (174 internationals), Juan Escarre (138) and Pablo Amat (95) - as well as their goalkeeper Ramon Jufresa (158 internationals).

It was a do-or-die match for India, with a win being the only option available.

A dangerous Dhanraj move in the 19th minute, wherein he picked up a loose ball and dribbled through the defence, saw the Spanish goalkeeper Ramon Jufresa bring him down. A penalty stroke was given, and Baljeet Singh Dhillon converted with a lifted push into the top right corner of the net.

In the 22nd minute, Spain equalised. A series of raids on the Indian goal finally produced a penalty corner, which Xavier Ribas flicked low to goalkeeper Jude's left, beating his outstretched leg.

With the Spanish mid-field up front, an Indian counter-attack in the 31st minute saw three Indian forwards racing towards the goal with only two defenders in opposition. Off the penalty corner that ensued, Dileep Tirkey opened his account in the Sydney Olympics by scoring a goal, on second attempt, off his own rebound. From this point on, India never gave up its lead.

Seven minutes after the breather, Baljeet Dhillon converted another penalty corner, to the right of Jufresa, to make it 3-1 in favour of India.

In the 48th minute, Josep Sanchez, feeding off a Pablo Amat pass in the middle of the circle, and with his back to the Indian goal, cut the ball to the left and swung it into the goal to reduce the deficit for Spain.

The last 15 minutes of the second half saw as many as half a dozen tries on the Indian goal by the marauding Spanish forwards. Dhanraj began playing deeper and deeper inside his own half, to cover for the Indian defense. Jude Menezes saved four clear goals in the last 10 minutes when our defence was being pushed to the brink.

To the huge relief for the Indian fans who had flocked to the stadium in big numbers, lady luck smiled on India as the match ended in a 3-2 result in its favour.

India finished its matches with the Big 3 in its pool - Spain, Korea and Australia - with a win, a loss and a draw.

India has the luxury of playing the last match in the pool competition. By that time, either Australia or Korea would have advanced to the semi-final for sure. India can seal its berth in the semi-final by beating Poland.

This is the first time in Olympic hockey that both the semi-final spots in each pool will be decided only after the last match on the last day of the pool competition.

It is encouraging that in the match against Spain, India had a 100% conversion rate in penalty corners (2 of 2) and penalty strokes (1 of 1). If the defence holds up better, Dhanraj Pillai can afford to play upfront, and deservingly score his first goal of the 2000 Olympics.