The Indian men's hockey team commenced their Asian Games campaign on a rousing note, blanking Sri Lanka 8-0 following Rupinder Pal Singh’s super hat-trick on Sunday.
Rupinder Pal Singh pumped in goals in the 12th, 45th and 46th minute, while Ramandeep Singh sounded the board in the 28th and 59th minute.
There were also goals from Danish Mujtaba, Kangujam Chinglensana Singh and Raghunath Ramachandra at the Seonhak Hockey Stadium.
Mujtaba gave India the lead in as early as the sixth minute of the Pool B match.
Rupinder then converted a penalty stroke to put India ahead.
Raghunath Ramachandra made it 3-0 for the former champions in the 13th minute, helping India enjoy complete control in the first quarter.
As per the new rule, the duration of the game has been reduced from 70 to 60 minutes, with four quarters of 15 minutes each.
Six minutes into the second quarter, Kangujam Chinglensana Singh scored a brilliant field goal to make it 4-0, as India completely dominated proceedings in the middle.
That was followed by Ramandeep making it 5-0 in favour of India. He scored one more time in the game, just before final hooter.
Before that though, Rupinder added to his tally by scoring in a span of one minute.
Image: Mandeep Singh (left) and Rupinder Pal (centre) of India celebrate after scoring
Photograph: Getty Images
