India ends tour winless

The Indian national team ended their tour of Fiji winless after Fiji defeated the tourists 2-1 in Suva today.

Fiji won the series 2-0 with India suffering two consecutive defeats to the national squad and an earlier loss to local district champions Ba in their tour opener.

A much improved Indian outfit dominated the play today and took the early lead 15 minutes into the match with a 35metre free kick through the boots of Sukwindar Singh.

But the celebration was short lived with Luke Vidovi collecting a loose pass to fire in the equalizer in the 30th minute.

The teams went into the break 1-all but 10 minutes after the break Fiji captain Esala Masi hammered home a powerful tie breaker to seal Fiji’s win.

Match Summary

Fiji 2-1 India

Goals: 0-1 Irungbam Surkumar Singh (10′), 1-1 Luke Vidovi (25′), 2-1 Esala Masi (61′)

Kick-off time: 16.00 local time (09.30 IST / 06.00 CET)

Venue: Post Fiji Stadium, Suva

Attendance: 11,000+

Fiji Simione Tamanisau; Lorima Dau, Alvin Avinesh, Luke Vidovi, Apisalome Turuva, Petero Daunisaka; Esala Masi (Taniela Waqa), Pita Baletoga (Josaia Bukalidi), Salesh Kumar (Stephen Morrell); Kiniviliame Naika (Avinesh Swamy), Osea Vakatalesau (Thomas Vulivuli)

India VP Satish Kumar; Irungbam Surkumar Singh, Selwyn Fernandes, Naduparambil Pappachan Pradeep, Habibur Rehman Mondal; Shylo Malswam Tulunga (Subhas Chakraborty), Shanmugam Venkatesh, Debabrata Roy; Vimal Pariyar (Sukhwinder Singh), Sunil Chetri, Manjit Singh (Surajit Bose)

Referee Peter O’Leary (New Zealand)

Cautions Lorima Dau (Fiji)

Expulsions None