Age Correspondent

New Delhi

Dec. 9: India thrashed China 4-1 in their second Group A match of the Champions Challenge hockey tournament in Salta, Argentina, on Wednesday.

Prabhjot Singh (7th minute), Rajpal Singh (35th), Sarwanjit Singh (56th) and Shivendra Singh (70th) scored for India. while Yi Song pulled one back for China in the 41st minute.

India play Belgium in their final group match on Thursday.

In other matches, Argentina scored a decisive 3-1 victory over Pakistan. New Zealand defeated Belgium 4-1 while South Africa got the better of Canada by the same margin. The top two teams from each group qualify for the semifinals.

In Group A, both India and New Zealand have four points followed by Belgium and China while Argentina lead Group B with six points followed by South Africa, Pakistan and Canada.

Having drawn their opening match against the Kiwis, India showed intent against China right from word go, going on the attack early and earning a series of penalty corners.

They missed the first one, before Prabhjot scored from the second on a rebound.

Rifeng Su stood tall in the Chinese goal and skillfully saved some testing efforts from close range. He also kept penalty-corner attempts by Dhananjay Mahadik at bay.

The Indian forwards then made a move in the closing stages of the first half and Rajpal deflected the ball from close range to increase the lead.

China reduced the gap with a penalty-stroke fired home by Song. Despite a yellow card to Yongxin Cui, India failed to add to their tally.

Sarwanjit gave India a comfortable two-goal cushion when he scored through a penalty-corner. India rounded off proceedings after a last minute field goal by Shivendra.