Men’s hockey team inch closer to semis

Birmingham, Aug 3: Harmanpreet Singh and Akashdeep Singh scored a brace each as the Indian men’s hockey team produced a completely dominating performance to rout Canada 8-0 in their third match and jump to the top of Pool B at the Commonwealth Games here on Wednesday.
With the win, India jumped to the top of the pool ahead of England. The Indians play Wales in their final group match on Thursday.
Harmanpreet gave India the lead in the seventh minute with a powerful drag-flick from another set piece.
Three minutes later, defender Rohidas scored a brilliant field goal. He stormed into the circle with his silky stick work and slotted the ball home after receiving a defence splitting long ball from Varun Kumar.
In the second quarter, India secured two quick penalty corners in the 19th minute, the second of which resulted to a goal. Lalit slapped in a loose ball off a rebound after Varun Kumar’s flick was kept away by Canadian goalkeeper Ethan McTavish to hand India a 3-0 lead.
Later, Gurjant deflected in Hardik Singh’s pass from the left to extend India’s lead.
In the 38th minute, Akashdeep scored with a slap shot.
In the fourth and final quarter, McTavish made a double save from a penalty corner to deny Mandeep and Vivek Sagar Prasad. In the final six minutes of the match, India fired three more goals which came from the sticks of Harmanpreet, Mandeep and Akashdeep. (PTI)