Glasgow, July 25 (IANS): The Indian men's hockey team Friday began their Commonwealth Games campaign with a facile 3-1 win over lowly Wales in a Pool A tie at the Glasgow National Hockey Centre here.
In what was a lazy and lacklustre beginning, World No.9 India at half-time were held to a 1-1 scoreline by Wales, who are ranked 22 places below. But a much better second half performance that saw two goals being scored put India through.
V.R. Raghunath opened the scoring for India from a penalty corner in the 20th minute. But his opener was cancelled out just three minutes later by a stinging shot from Andrew Cornick.
It was another penalty corner post-break that gave India the lead for the second time in the match. Rupinder Pal Singh was at hand in 42nd minute to turn the ball into the back of the net.
Gurwinder Singh Chandi put the match beyond Wales in the 47th minute from India's first open-play goal in the match.
"Our aim was to score more goals against Wales as per our strategy but some small mistakes didn't allow us to achieve it. Whatever shortcomings we have seen will be rectified and not repeated against Scotland," India chief coach Terry Walsh said.
"The team is in good shape and motivated after today's win to take on the opponents and steal the show with even better results in the second game."
India will next take on hosts Scotland Saturday.