India scored another thumping victory in the men’s hockey tournament at the Asian Games, thrashing Singapore 16-1 in a Pool A match, in Hangzhou, on Tuesday.
Goals from captain Harmanpreet Singh (24th, 39th, 40th and 42nd minute), Mandeep Singh (12', 30', 51'), Abhishek (51', 52'), Varun Kumar (55', 55') and one each by Lalit Kumar Upadhyay (16'),
Gurjant Singh (22'), Vivek Sagar Prasad (23'), Manpreet Singh (37'), and Shamsher Singh (38') gave India a resounding win. Zaki Zulkarnain (53') scored Singapore’s only goal.
India had beaten Uzbekistan 16-0 in their opening match
Mandeep Singh opened the floodgates after picking a pass from Gurjant Singh and scoring at the end of the first quarter.
The lead was doubled in the opening minutes of the second quarter, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay scoring following a pass from Sukhjeet Singh. Three quick goals followed in three minutes. First, Gurjant Singh (22') sounded the board after receiving a pass from Mandeep Singh. A minute later, Vivek Sagar Prasad (23') deflected the ball home with a deft touch, and then Harmanpreet Singh (24') opened his goal tally, scoring from a penalty-corner to make it 5-0.
A fantastic variation from a penalty-corner gave Mandeep Singh (30') his second goal of the match late in the quarter before India went into half-time 6-0 up.
The onslaught continued in the third quarter and Manpreet Singh (37') made most of another variation following a penalty-corner.
A minute later, Shamsher Singh (38') extended the tally to 8-0.
Skipper Harmanpreet Singh (39', 40', 42') showcased his class in the drag-flick, converting three consecutive penalty-corners to make it 11-0 at the end of the third quarter.
Mandeep Singh completed his hat-trick in the 51st minute to make it 12-0.
Abhishek (51', 52') then scored twice in two minutes, making the most of errors from the Singapore defenders before a surprise counter-attack from Singapore led to Zaki Zulkarnain (53') reducing the margin.
Varun Kumar (55', 55') added his name to the scoresheet, scoring twice from penalty-corners.
India will next meet Japan on Thursday, September 28th, at 1815 IST.
