ORDOS (China): The young Indian hockey team began its Asian Champions Trophy campaign in style as it spanked hosts China 5-0, displaying flashes of brilliance and dictating the pace of the game on Saturday.
In the first half, India led 2-0 with goals from Gurwinder Singh Chandi (5th) and Yuvraj Walmiki (21st). In the second half, India scored through Rupinder Pal Singh (41st), Rajpal Singh (43rd) and V Raghunath (62nd).
In an earlier match, the opener of the tournament, South Korea beat Japan 3-2 in a hard-fought contest.
It was a slow start for both the teams with China looking handicapped due to the absence of four of their best players missing the tournament with injuries.
They were defensive and the Indian forwards took advantage to score an early fifth-minute goal.
China surprisingly didn’t go on the attack. They pulled back players and played with a lone forward upfront. India did have the space and advantage in numbers but were erratic and not building up to the striking circle.
Rajpal and Sarwanjit had a good chance in the 15th minute but couldn’t connect inside the circle.
China tried to build through the middle but Rupinder Pal Singh was terrific in defence. In the 19th minute, China almost got through but Rupinder in a super-sliding tackle took out the ball and while falling on the turf also cleared it away to the midfield.
India had their fourth goal scoring opportunity in the 21st minute and came good though the Chinese goalkeeper Xu Rui thwarted two shots but the third rebound off his pads went to Yuvraj Walmiki who had the space in the striking circle to fire in India’s second goal for a 2-0 lead.
India were clearly dominating but the fluidity in the forward line was missing.
China made things difficult with man-to-man marking but the two goals in the first half were a fair indication of India’s dominance.
Exquisite skills brought India their fourth goal in the 44th minute. Vikas Sharma held the ball on the edge of the Chinese striking circle, dribbled past the stick of a Chinese defender and gave it to Roshan Minz who cleverly clipped it past another defender and tapped it to Rajpal for the Indian captain to open his scoring in the tournament.
India play Japan on Sunday while the women’s team takes on South Korea. (PTI)
