New Delhi: India continued their goal-scoring spree and predictably walloped minnows Italy 8-1 in a one-sided match of the men’s hockey Olympic Qualification tournament, here on Sunday.
After their 15-1 drubbing of Singapore Saturday night, India’s match against Italy was also expected to be a high-scoring affair and it turned out to be one as the home team toyed with the Italian defence in the opening half to pump in as many as six goals as against the visitor’s one.
However, the second half turned out to be a dampener for the Indians as they could manage just two goals even though they penetrated the Italian defence continuously.
The most heartening thing for India was their penalty corner conversion rate.
Michael Nobbs wards converted four out of the five penalty corners they earned in the match with Sandeep Singh (4th minute, 22nd, 23rd) alone striking three goals.
Player-of-the-match S V Sunil (30th, 38th) scored two goals while V R Raghunath (12th), Gurvinder Singh Chandi (32nd) and Shivendra Singh (52nd) scored the rest for the hosts.
Indian eves thrash Canada 4-1
Indian eves dished out a dominating performance to notch up a convincing 4-1 victory over Canada in their second match.
India came out all guns blazing with Soundarya Yendala (16th minute), Rani Rampal (19th), Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam (29th) and Anuradha Devi Thokchom (49th) sounding the board.
The world number 20th team, Canada, who were held to a 2-2 draw by Italy yesterday, couldn’t make much penetration and failed to pose much threat to the Indians even though they managed to score a solitary goal in the dying moments through Hannah Haughn (69th).
With this win, India earned three points to lie in the second position along with Italy in the pool. India had bagged one point on Saturday.
The world number 13 India played an aggressive game right from the start and kept the ball in the rival camp for most part of the match. (PTI)