Indian men play around with hapless Fiji

By Ritu Sejwal, TNN

NEW DELHI: There were hardly any supporters in the stands, but those who were present had enough to cheer for as Indian men’s team outplayed Fiji 16-0 in their opening encounter of the Hockey World League on Monday.

VR Raghunath, Danish Mujtaba scored three goals each while Rupinder Pal Singh and Malak Singh added two goals each. Kothajit Singh, Manpreet Singh, Dharamvir Singh, Nithin Thimmaiah, Chinglensana and Gurjinder Singh added one each. Defender Rupinder Pal Singh was declared the man of the match.

The hosts start on a fast note and jumped to a 4-0 lead just 18 minutes into the game against a team which had to break financial barriers to participate in the tournament.

In the 21st minute, a penalty corner conversion by Gurjinder increased the lead to 5-0. Fiji defenders had no answer to the relentless Indian attacks as SV Sunil’s pass from almost zero angle nine minutes later was well read and deflected in by Danish Mujtaba (28th minute).

The young Indian side controlled the match with ease and kept putting pressure on the rival defence. This earned India a penalty corner towards the end of the first half which was successfully converted. The second half was a pure goal-fest.

Ranked No. 70 in the world, Fiji struggled to penetrate the Indian defence. They did earn their only penalty corner just four minutes from the final hooter but failed to make it count.

Gurjinder and Malak were awarded Rs 1 lakh each by Hockey India for scoring a goal each on debut. Coach Michael Nobbs said on the victory: “We respect every team. I am happy we could maintain the pace displayed during the HIL.”

In other matches, China beat Oman 4-0 and Ireland defeated Bangladesh 5-2.

Girls too have a ball

It rained penalty corners for the Indian women’s hockey team on Monday. The hosts, who earned as many as 14 penalty corners, beat a lower-ranked Kazakhstan 8-0.

Jaspreet Kaur and Rani Rampal led the Indian charge with four and three goals respectively.

Jaspreet opened India’s tally in the eighth minute by converting a penalty corner. Seven minutes later Rani Rampal added another goal. Jaspreet later scored in the 21st, 54th and 70th minutes while Rani found the net in the 26th and 41st minutes. Soundarya Yendala fetched the other goal in the 48th minute.

India next face Malaysia, who beat a higher-ranked Russia 3-1. In another match, Japan thrashed Fiji 14-0.