The Hindu: Rani scores six as India routs Thailand

Rani scores six as India routs Thailand

S. Thyagarajan

An improved display, says coach Kaushik

India faces China next on Tuesday

Bangkok: The avalanche of goals continued in the women’s Asia Cup hockey championship here on Saturday with the figure crossing the half-century mark.

While Japan, the defending champion, overwhelmed Sri Lanka by a margin of 20 goals to nil, India luxuriated itself against Thailand to finish the day with an impressive 15-0 verdict.

Beyond the statistics there is nothing extraordinary to be read into the results, although they provide an insight into the emerging semifinals scenario.

India faces China in the next match on Tuesday after a two-day break. China, fighting to regain the cup won last in 1989 hammered out a 13-0 result against Singapore. The India-China result may well determine the semifinalists from Pool ‘A’. On the same day, Korea, which blasted Hong Kong 10-0, meets Japan in Pool ‘B’.

Initial resistance

The initial resistance from Thailand, which has an Australian coach to devise and design strategies, indicated some spirited fight. India frittered away three penalty corners and a couple of scoring opportunities.

Once Ritu Rani hoisted the lead taking advantage of a rebound from a penalty corner by Binita Toppo, India’s attack switched on to a different octave altogether.

The gangling Rani Ramphal was the one who led the frontline with noticeable ebullience with Mamta Kharb and Saba Anjum amalgamating their experience.

Rani struck six goals, two in the first half. Some of the passing bouts with Rani and Saba reflected the aesthetics of the Indian brand of hockey.

The harmony in the attack, supported well in the mid-field by Asunta Lakra and in the deep defence by Binita, gave the Thai team a lesson or two on the virtues of combined thrusts.

India slotted in six goals in the first half, and added nine more in the next.

Chief coach M.K. Kaushik agreed there was improvement from the first match but he could not yet fathom the team’s sluggishness in the early part of the game.

He conceded there was no alternative to going all out against the Chinese, although he has certain reservations about the bounce in the second pitch where the match is scheduled for Tuesday.

The results: Pool A: China 13 (Li Shu Fang 2, Ren Ye 2, Gao Li Hua 2 ,Ma Wei 2, Song Qing Ling 2, Li Hong Xia, Xing Qian 2) bt Singapore 0; India 15 (Ritu Rani, Mamta Kharb 3, Saba Anjum 3, Rani Ramphal 6, Monika Bardan, Surinder Kaur) bt Thailand 0.

Pool B: Korea 10 (Seul Ki Cheon 2, Hye Lyong Han, Jong Eun Kim 2, Soo Kyung Lee, Dae Rae Kim, Eun Sil Kim, Miyun Park, Myong Eum) bt Hong Kong 0; Japan 20 (Sato Masako, Ai Murakami, Mika Imura 4, Kana Nagayama, Sachmi Iwao 2, Keiko Miura 5, Mazuki Arai, Rika Komazawa 4, Misaki Ozawa) bt Sri Lanka 0; Kazakhstan 5 (Gulnari Imangalieva 3, Vera Domashneva, Guliya Baissarina) bt Chinese Taipei 2 ( Peiling Lu, Ming-Fang Sung).

Sunday’s matches: Malaysia v China (12.30 p.m.); Hong Kong v Sri Lanka (1 p.m.); Kazakhstan v Korea (2.30 p.m.); Thailand v Singapore (3 p.m.); Japan v Chinese Taipei (5 p.m.).