India rout Hong Kong 7-0

Playing at less than optimal pace on a bouncy outside turf of the Aoti hockey field, the Indian men’s team started their Asian Games gold medal quest with a 7-0 rout of Hong Kong in a Group B match here today. With this win the Rajpal Singh-led India notched up their seventh victory over their rivals in the Asian Games and 12th in all tournaments.

Although they did not look threatening, coach Jose Brasa’s boys completely dominated Hong Kong in the entire 70 minutes and pumped in four and three goals respectively in both the halves to start their proceedings in the quadrennial mega-event in style. India play Bangladesh on November 17, take on arch-rivals Pakistan on November 20 before ending their league engagements the next day against Japan.

Against Hong Kong, India utilised three out of the six penalty corners they earned in the match with ace drag-flicker Sandeep Singh (4th and 18th minutes) converting two and Tushar Khandker (37th) scoring from a rebound. Bharat Chikara (2nd), Sarvanjit Singh (22nd), Arjun Halappa (38th) and Shivendra Singh (48th) completed the scoring-spree for India through field strikes.

Two-time gold medalists India, who have come here with the main aim of clinching the crown which they last won in 1998 and avoid the pitfalls of qualifying for the 2012 London Olympics, displayed their positive intent in the first five minutes of the match when they pumped in two goals through Chikara and Sandeep. Chikara’s opening essay was an excellent co-ordinated effort as he pushed in a centre from the left sent by Vikram Pillay in the second minute before Sandeep made it 2-0 two minutes later. But then came a phase when India struggled to control the ball at speed and had to wait till the 18th minute when Sandeep scored off the second short corner with a neat drag-flick.

After making repeated forays into the rival citadel, only to be thwarted by the crowded Hong Kong defence, India made it 4-0 through a good field effort when a down the middle charge saw Sarvanjit score off a Vikram pass in the 22nd minute. With a lowly Hong Kong at the other end, India utilised the match to try out various combinations and tried out Dhananjay Mahadik in taking short corners, but he could not score off two earned in succession before the half time. Crossing over, India once again made a storming start by scoring two more goals in as many minutes.