Melbourne: A spirited Indian effort went in vain as hosts Australia on Saturday snatched a narrow 1-0 win in the final to bag the gold in women's hockey event at the XVIII Commonwealth Games.
A late goal by skipper Nicole Hudson enabled the Hockeyroos to dethrone reigning champions India, who had to be satisfied with the silver.
England won the bronze prevailing over New Zealand 3-1 in penalty shootout.
The game rolled into the tie-break after the teams finished goalless in regulation time and 15 minutes of extra time also failed to break the deadlock.
With contrasting styles, India and Australia fought neck and neck to exhibit some entertaining hockey at the State Netball Hockey Centre.
The Indians gave Australia a tough time before Hudson's 62nd minute strike helped the Australians maintain their winning run.
Despite conceding an early penalty corner, India maintained their stranglehold on the hosts in the first 15 minutes with better ball possesion, good interception and excellent coordination.
They made several raids on the Aussie post, earning two penalty corners, but lack of finishing proved their undoing.
Saba Anjum mufffed up a golden opportunity when she failed to put the ball into the open goal after getting a nice and powerful cross from Surinder Kaur from the right.
This blunder proved costly as the flamboyant Hudson shot home a similar goal in the second half to seal India's fate.
Late into the second half, Sarah Taylor sent a blinding cross from left and Hudson latched on to the opportunity and drove home for the hosts.
The first half was evenly fought with both the teams running on par with number of chances created.
Apart from several moves by both the teams, Australia had four penalty corners while India got three during this period.
The hosts gained control of the proceedings quite subtly in the last 20 minutes when they launched several attacks putting pressure on the Indian defence.
But Kanti Baa and Subhadra Pradhan were confident in thwarting the Aussies, who got three more penalty corners in the second half.
The other factor that stood between the Hockeyroos and an easy win was Indian custodian Helen May Innocent who came up with a superb performance to the utter frustration of the Australian women.
The Indian girls got a few good opportunities in the second half but could not garner benefits off those.
The best of the chances came when a good hit by Asunta Lakra was well deflected by Anjum. But to the disappointment of the Indian camp, the ball went over the post.
After getting the all-important lead, the Australians showed maturity to play possessional hockey and consumed time to deny the Indians any chance of comeback.
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