Kakamigahara (Japan), Sep 22 Dragflicker Jugraj Singh, strikers Abhishek and Dilpreet Singh scored a hat-trick each as the Indian men’s hockey team hammered a lowly Sri Lanka 16-1 in its second Pool A match at the Asian Games here on Tuesday.
India had earlier defeated Indonesia 13-1.
Jugraj (10th, 22nd, 42nd and 53rd) scored four goals, while Abhishek (11th, 17th, 49th), and Dilpreet (30th, 38th, 55th) scored three field goals each.
Skipper Harmanpreet Singh (16th, 45th), Mandeep Singh (5th), Sukhjeet Singh (29th), Manpreet Singh (31st), and Vivek Sagar Prasad (36th) also found the net.
Sri Lanka’s lone goal — their first against India in the Asian Games history — was scored by Suresh Rathnayake in the 50th minute.
India will next play South Korea on Thursday.
The Indians were expectedly the dominant side from the onset as they controlled the proceedings against the unfancied Lankans.
It took India just five minutes to break the deadlock when Mandeep scored from an assist from Abhishek. About five minutes later, Jugraj doubled India’s lead scoring with a powerful dragflick from a set piece.
A minute later, it was Abhishek’s turn to register his name in the scoresheet, executing a fine field goal.
Skipper Harmanpreet was not to be left behind as he converted a penalty corner in the 16th minute. Abhishek scored his second goal of the day a minute later through another field try.
Jugraj followed suit by showing his might as a dragflicker, converting another penalty corner in the 22nd minute to hand India a 6-0 lead.
Sukhjeet also wrote his name in the scoresheet, slamming the ball into an open goal after receiving a pass from vice-captain Hardik Singh, after the initial try from a penalty corner didn’t yield the desired result.
Dilpreet made it 8-0 for India at half-time, deflecting in a cheeky deflection from Mandeep.
A minute after the change of ends, it was Manpreet’s turn to score a rare field goal after being the team’s midfield mainstay for a long time.
Vivek then slammed the net with a reverse shot five minutes later, before Dilpreet scored his second of the day after a brilliant one-two with Sukhjeet to open the Lankan defence.
Jugraj scored his hat-trick by perfectly executing an effort from a penalty stroke, and Harmanpreet converted another penalty corner at the stroke of the third quarter to make the scoreline 13-0.
Abhishek soon completed his hat-trick with a brilliant back of the stick goal, before Sri Lanka scored their first goal in Asian Games history against India through Rathnayake.
Jugraj scored his fourth from the spot before Dilpreet registered his second hat-trick of the Asian Games after receiving a fine pass from Mandeep.
India’s chief coach Craig Fulton was happy with his wards’ display in the first two pool matches of the Asian Games and used the outings as a preparation for the tougher challenges ahead.
“I’m happy with the results. Obviously we got some good practice out there in terms of the final third, got the three points, and we move on to the next games against (Republic of) Korea and Japan. I think no disrespect to any of the two teams that we’ve played, but we have maybe 80 percent of the ball, so we end up in their half for 60 minutes,” he said.
“It is like a really good training drill for us – because we need it – and if you don’t frame it like that, then what do you do? You waste an opportunity to get sharp, and you know there are other teams in our pool that will put us under more pressure. So we need to use it and use it wisely.”
Fulton said India used the first two matches to prepare themselves to take on Korea and hosts Japan in the next two tough pool games.
“We have our own objectives that we need to reach in those games and we’ve used these two games to do it. We’re in good form and I think we’re in a good place to take them on,” he said.
Fulton said the team had learnt a lot lessons from its eighth place in the recent FIH World Cup in the Netherlands and Belgium.
“We’ve wanted to pull the lessons out of it and just have a fresh start. We had a really nice team built in Mount Fuji. Had two, three days there and then reconnected and started again.
“It’s not nice that we didn’t do so well in the World Cup, but within three weeks you have another opportunity and here we are. I think we’re pushing in the right direction, so it’s on track,” he said.
India dragflicker Jugraj Singh, who scored four goals on Tuesday, is delighted with his performance.
“I’m very happy because our team performed very well. We worked on the structure of the match. The coach told us to mark the front. We focused on that and gave our 100 percent.
“I scored four goals and I will keep scoring. I will do my best in the next match and give 100 percent. The next matches are very important. We will improve our mistakes in the next match and play well,” he said.
(PTI News)
