Rediff.com » Sports » India trounce Singapore in Jr WC opener
India trounce Singapore in Jr WC opener
June 08, 2009 20:25 IST
Skipper Diwakar Ram led from the front, scoring five goals, as former champions India opened their campaign in the Junior World Cup hockey tournament, by crushing co-hosts Singapore 10-0 in Singapore on Monday.
Diwakar flicked home all his five goals from penalty-corners in the 15th, 18th, 29th, 55th and 66th minutes at the Seng Kang Sports Complex.
The Indians, who led 6-0 at the break, got their other goals through Danish Mujtaba (5th and 51st minutes), Dharamvir Singh (26th), Mandip Antil (30th) and Vivek (47th).
India's margin of victory is the highest in the tournament, being co-hosted by Singapore and Malaysia.
India dominated proceedings from the beginning with constant attacks by their forwards. They attacked at will with perfect coordination between the midfielders and forwards. The strong bench strength afforded coach A K Bansal to shuffle his pack.
The Indian medios and deep defence also did not allow Singapore to advance too much in their territory and, as a result, goalkeeper Choubey was not tested.
India's wingers Mandip Antil and Mohd Amir Khan tore open Singapore's defence and fed strikers Danish Mujtaba, Pramod Kumar and Jay Karan as they successfully won penalty-corners in quick succession.
India plays New Zealand in their Pool D match on Tuesday.
In an earlier Pool D match, Holland registered their second successive victory, beating Poland 7-2.