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India's frustrating FIH Women's Pro League campaign continued with the Salima Tete-led side suffering their third successive loss, a 1-4 defeat to world No.2 side Argentina here on Tuesday.

Deepika was the lone goal-scorer for India, converting a penalty corner in the 30th minute, while for Argentina Agustina Gorzelany struck a hat-trick (40', 54' & 59'). Victoria Falasco (29') scored the opening goal for the winners.

India began with intent and were a dominant force in the first quarter before they curiously lost momentum midway through the second quarter to be completely overwhelmed by their higher-ranked opponents.

India were off to a great start with the team making full-hearted attempts to score the opener.

In fact, Salima came within sniffing distance of scoring a goal midway through the first quarter when she made a dash from the right but made a mess of things when she was just a few yards from the goalmouth and completely unguarded.

A move initiated by Naveent Kaur from the Indian half in the 18th minute saw her relay the ball to Lalremsiami, who gave a pass to Bajeet Kaur, but the forward wasted that precious milli-second to take a touch as another big opportunity went abegging.

It seemed India were holding their own against the No.2 ranked team in the world after successive defeats against Australia.

But curiously coach Harendra Singh's side went off the boil midway through the second quarter, as their rivals hit back with a full force.

Sensing that India were not pushing that hard in the second quarter, Argentina went for an all-out attack and scored the game's opening goal when Victoria Falasco found an opening on the left and used the short swing to perfection to slot home the opening goal in the 29th minute.

However, India hit back with just one second remaining in the second quarter when Deepika converted a penalty corner following a superb injection to bring up the equaliser.

The third quarter saw India dominate the first few minutes before surprisingly handing over the initiative to Argentina, whose link play saw them once again take control.

A penalty stroke in the 40th minute, which was converted by Agustina, gave the winners a 2-1 lead. Argentina soon earned back-to-back penalty corners -- their 3rd and 4th -- in the 48th minute but the Indian defenders were up to the task.

However, contrary to coach Singh's assertion at half-time that it would be an even contest, things continued to go downhill for his side as Agustina piled more misery with two goals in the last quarter.

India will play their second match against Argentina on Wednesday. 

(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)