Bhubaneswar

World No.1 Australia survived a scare as they had to dig deep to make a comeback against 2016 Olympic gold medallists Argentina and secure a 3-3 draw in a Group A encounter at the Kalinga Stadium on Monday.

Australia and Argentina had started the tournament in contrasting styles - the Kookaburras thrashing France 8-0 while Argentina overcame South Africa 1-0.

But on Monday, Australia were trailing Argentina by a goal (3-2) with four minutes to go for the final hooter when the experienced Blake Govers scored a field goal in the 57th minute to make it 3-3 and claim one point for the Kookaburras from the match.

Jeremy Hayward (9th min) and Daniel Beale (29th min) were the other scorers for Australia while Tomas Domene (18th), Maico Casella (32nd) and Martin Ferreiro (48th min) scored for Argentina.

With this draw, both Australia and Argentina are on four points from two matches with the Kookaburras on top on better goal difference.

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France, who defeated South Africa in a later match, are third with three points. The final position in the Pool will be clear after the last set of matches in which Australia will meet South Africa while Argentina meets France on Friday.