Mandeep Singh struck twice as a below-par India struggled past minnows Russia 4-2 in the first leg of the two-match FIH Olympic Qualifier. Mandeep (24th, 53rd) scored two field goals while Harmanpreet Singh and SV Sunil also hit the target for the hosts. World No. 22 Russia dished out a fighting performance to surprise the hosts and kept the difference of goals to just two.

World No.5 India still can’t breathe easy as Russia are capable of overturning hosts’two-goal lead in the second and final match tomorrow. The aggregate winner at the end of the two-match qualifier will seal its place for the Tokyo Olympics.

Russia goalkeeper Marat Gafarov was called into action by India captain Manpreet Singh in the sixth minute, and Manpreet’s first shot was saved but he was fouled as he attempted a follow-up. The hosts made good use of the video referral to get a penalty stroke and Harmanpreet made no mistake. Two minutes into the second quarter, Russia equalised through a field strike from Andrey Kuraev, who after receiving an overhead pass, cut across the top of the circle before guiding his shot into the bottom-left corner past India goalkeeper Krishan Bahadur Pathak.