Hockey World Cup 2018: Canada, South Africa play out 1-1 draw to stay afloat in contest

Bhubaneswar: Canada and South Africa played out a 1-1 draw in their second Pool C match to stay afloat in the men’s Hockey World Cup on Sunday. It was a hard-fought battle with little separating the two teams. [caption id=“attachment_5658841” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Canada and South Africa players vie for the ball in their match at the Hockey World Cup 2018. Twitter@sports_odisha[/caption] In the contest between World No. 11 Canada and World No. 15 South Africa, both teams fought hard in the opening two quarters and did not give each other an inch of advantage to remain goalless at half time. It was South Africa who took the lead in the 43rd minute through a fine reverse stick field goal by Nqobile Ntuli. But South Africa’s joy was shortlived as Canada equalised two minutes later when they were awarded a penalty stroke and skipper Scott Tupper took the onus on himself to level the match. Thereafter, both Canada and South Africa pressed hard in search of the winner but they failed to breach the rival defence to eventually share the spoils. The result kept both the teams in the hunt for a place in the knock-out round. While Canada will play hosts India in their last pool match on 8 December, South Africa will face Word No. 3 Belgium on the same day. For the full Hockey World Cup 2018 schedule, click here For all the results from the Hockey World Cup 2018, click here For the Hockey World Cup 2018 standings, click here To read stories from our Hockey World Cup memories series, click here To read legends' take on Indian hockey team's performances at the World Cup, click here To read stories from The Hockey Insider series, click here