Ruthless India demolish Kazakhstan 15-0, storm into Men’s Hockey Asia Cup Super 4s with hat-trick of wins

A ruthless India scored every four minutes on average to demolish Kazakhstan 15-0 in an utterly lopsided match and march into the Super 4 stage of the Asia Cup hockey tournament with an all-win record in Rajgir, Bihar on Monday.

Abhishek (5th, 8th, 20th, 59th minutes) found the target four times, while Sukhjeet Singh (15th, 32nd, 38th) and Jugraj Singh (24th, 31st, 47th) struck fine hat-tricks to help India top Pool A.

Skipper Harmanpreet Singh (26th), Amit Rohidas (29th), Rajinder Singh (32nd), Sanjay (54th) and Dilpreet Singh (55th) were the other scorers as India registered their third consecutive win in the tournament after beating China and Japan.

India will be joined by China in the Super 4s from their group, while Malaysia and Korea are the teams to have progressed to the next stage from Pool B.

All the four teams will play each other in the next stage of the tournament, and the top two sides will qualify for Sunday’s final.

In the match, Sukhjeet intercepted the ball inside Kazakhstan half and passed it on to Abhishek, who opened India’s account with a reverse shot from the top of the circle.

Abhishek scored his second goal three minutes later from a similar position but this time, with his forehand.

India secured their first penalty corner just before the end of opening quarter but Harmanpreet’s effort was saved by Kazakh custodian Yerzhan Yelubayev. But, from the resultant free hit, Sukheet tapped in from a feed by Abhishek.

The Kazakhs also secured a penalty corner but failed to get anything out of it.

India got their second penalty corner in the 18th minute but Harmanpreet was unlucky as his flick hit the post.

Abhishek got his hat-trick when he pushed home the ball from a tight angle after receiving a pass from Harmanpreet.

Kazakhstan earned their second penalty corner but the Indians defended well.

Another penalty corner came India’s way in the 23rd minute and Jugraj made mistake to make it 5-0.

Minutes later, India secured another penalty corner and this time, Harmanpreet found the net.

After Dilpreet missed a sitter from a one-on-one situation, Rohidas got his name in the scoresheet by converting another set piece a minute from half time.

Right after the change of ends, India secured a penalty stroke and Jugraj scored.

It was raining goals as Rajinder and Sukhjeet found the net.

The Indian team looked sharp, and it was a one-way traffic as play was restricted to the Kazakh half.

Jugraj completed his hat-trick by converting a penalty stroke in the fourth quarter before Sanjay capitalised on a penalty corner.

Dilpreet Singh, too, got his name on the scoresheet before Abhishek, who started it all, completed the Kazakhstan humiliation by scoring his fourth goal a minute from the final hooter.

Earlier, Japan lost out on Super 4 berth to China on goal difference after a 2-2 draw.

In the day’s first Pool A match, China took a 2-0 lead through field goals from Changliang Lin (7th minute) and Xiaojia Zhang (25th) before Japan mounted a comeback.

Facing a must-win situation, Japan made a remarkable rally with Kazumasa Matsumoto (28th, 51st) scoring a brace.

Even though Japan attacked in numbers in the last 10 minutes of the match and created a few bright chances, they failed to find the winner that could have helped them enter the Super 4s.