India on Sunday rose from the ashes to tame New Zealand 3-1 with a spirited performance in their second pool match of the FIH Women’s Olympic Qualifier to keep alive their hopes of securing a ticket to the Paris Games.

The Indians, who dropped a rung to seventh in the world rankings released on Saturday, did not have the best of starts in the tournament, losing to lower-ranked United States 0-1 in their opening Pool B match.In contrast, New Zealand registered an easy 3-0 win over Italy on Saturday.

But it was complete turnover from the Indians on Sunday. They took the lead with their first attack within 41 seconds of the match through a field effort.

Sangita scored from close range after she was set up by Salima Tete.

The Indians’ ploy to fall back a bit after the early lead backfired as New Zealand secured a penalty corner and Hull converted the chance with a grounded shot to draw level.

But New Zealand’s leveller woke up the home team who pressed hard and secured back-to-back penalty corners, the second of which was perfectly slammed into the net by Neha in the 12th minute.

A minute from the first quarter, India tripled their lead, again through Neha. It was Jyoti who set up the goal, cutting inside the circle from the right side to pass it on to Neha, who did the rest.