The Indian women's hockey team slumped to their third successive loss at the Rio Olympics, going down 3-0 to USA.
Still seeking their first win after returning to women's Olympic hockey since their 1980 appearance, India were once again forced into the defensive for most part of the match, as USA dictated the pace.
With the loss, India remain as one of the bottom two teams - the other being Japan - with just one point from four matches in the six-team Pool B standings; India will have to beat higher-ranked Argentina in their final pool fixture on August 13 for any chance of qualifying to the quarterfinals.
The fitter and faster Americans kept the possession with them for long periods of the match while the Indians gave away the ball easily to their opponents, who got nine penalty corners over the course of the match; India won none.
All three of USA's goals, though, came from field efforts. Kathleen Bam scored twice -- in the 14th and 42nd minutes -- while Melissa Gonzalez struck once in the 52nd minute. The Indians had just a couple of shots at the opposition goal.
Just when it seemed like India would maintain a clean slate in the first quarter, they conceded a goal in the 14th minute, with the dangerous Kathleen scoring a field goal following sloppy defending. Kathleen's reverse shot went past the Indian goalkeeper Savita Punia.
The Indians did better in the second quarter as they were able to stop the Americans from scoring, including from two penalty corners. In the 20th minute, Rani Rampal's reverse hit found the target but it turned out that the ball sounded the board after being deflected from Preeti Dubey's leg, much to the disappointment of the Indian supporters. .
India showed some purpose and intent to attack in the third quarter and they raided the USA defence on a few occasions. However, USA made it 2-0 with Kathleen scoring her second goal of the match in the 42nd minute, as she rounded off a defender with a reverse flick before sending the ball through the legs of Punia and into the goal.
The Indian defence crumbled in the final quarter as they ventured higher on the field in search of a goal and were punished on the counter. Melissa fired in from close range in the 52nd minute after a neat passing interchange among three players.
USA got three more penalty corners in the final quarter and put the Indian defence under severe pressure, but they could not add to their goal tally.