The Indian women's hockey team continued their dismal campaign at the ongoing Rio Olympics, suffering a 0-3 defeat to US in a Pool B encounter here.
Kathleen Bam (14th, 42nd minutes) struck twice for the Americans while Melissa Gonzalez (52nd) scored the third goal to hand the Indians their third consecutive defeat here on Thursday.
The Indians, who have qualified for the Olympics after a gap of 36 years, thus suffered their third loss in four matches.
They had start their campaign with a 2-2 draw against Japan before losing to Britain and Australia.
The only point of worry for the US in Thursday's match was the fact that they had earned as many as eight penalty corners but could not convert a single one.
Kathleen put the Americans in the lead with a spectacular solo goal, dribbling her way to the backline inside the Indian penalty area before cutting back to place a powerful shot past Indian goalkeeper Savita.
The Americans continued to put the Indian defence under constant pressure with wave after wave of attack. The Indians were forced to defend in numbers inside their own half and the few attacks they did manage were effectively dealt with by the US defence.
India however, managed to prevent their opponents from increasing the lead in the second quarter thanks to some desperate defending.
But any hopes of an Indian comeback were quelled in the third period when Kathleen scored another field goal to double the US lead.
Melissa heaped on the misery for India with another field goal in the closing stages to complete the rout.
--IANS
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