Ipoh: India paid the price for sloppy defence and suffered an embarrassing 1-5 defeat against Argentina in the Sultan Azlan Shah hockey tournament on Friday.

The jittery Indians, who had lost 4-3 to New Zealand in their opening match, put up a rather pathetic display to find themselves at the bottom of the points table after the first two matches.

The Argentines relied on the brilliance of Facundo Callioni who struck three goals while Pedro Ibarra and Tomas Incento chipped in with a goal each in what turned out to a lop-sided contest.

Drag flicker Sandip Singh scored the only goal for India which comprised mostly of junior players who were found wanting against their much faster opponents.

Argentina fired the first salvo in the 12th minute of the contest when the nippy Callioni produced a brilliant back-hand flick to take the Indian defenders by surprise.

The goal was the result of a fast counter attack that saw Callioni break through the defence and find the target.

The Indians, who lacked the sting in the forwardline, restored parity in the 25th minute with Sandip scoring his fourth goal in the tournament by converting a penalty corner. (PTI)