India slam eight past Lanka to get off to a winning start

The Indian men’s hockey team began its 17th Asian Games campaign on a rousing note, brushing aside minnows Sri Lanka 8-0 at the Seonhak Stadium here on Sunday.

Showing no complacency whatsoever, India rode on a hat-trick from drag-flicker Rupinder Pal Singh to expectedly grab full compliment of three points without much of a fuss.Striker Nikkin Thimmaiah started the goal-fest, slamming home in the sixth minute before Rupinder struck from the penalty spot in the 12th minute to make it 2-0.

With India on the ascendancy early on itself, there was comeback for the Lankans, who simply withered away under the barrage of attacks. Rupinder’s partner in defence and drag-flick, V R Raghunath, made it 3-0 from a 15th minute penalty corner while goal from Chinglensana Singh (21st) and Ramandeep Singh (28th) helped India take a commanding 5-0 lead at the end of the second quarter.

India did ease their foot off the pedal a bit in the third quarter but slammed in three goals in the final quarter. Rupinder struck twice in quick succession -- 45th, 46th -- via penalty corners before Ramandeep Singh completed his brace in the final minute.

India take on Oman on Tuesday in the next group game.

Result: Pool A: Malaysia: 5 (Md Jalil 46th, Ahmad Tajuddin 52nd, Abdull­ah Md 59th, Abd Rahim 20th, 60th) bt Bangladesh 1 (Krishno Das 30th); So­uth Korea 12 (Namyong Lee 55th, Su­nghoon Yoon 27th, Hyosik You 33rd, 47th, Moonkyu Kang 14th, Hyesung Hyun 54th, Seongkyu Kim 54th, Jon­ghyun Jang 34th, 35th, 44th, Hyunwoo Nam 6th, 29th) bt Singapore

Pool B: India: 8 (Nikkin Thimmaiah 6th, Rupinder Pal Singh 12th, 45th, 46th, VR Raghunath 15th, Chinglensana Singh 21st, Ramandeep Singh 28th, 60th) bt Sri Lanka: 0; Pakistan: 2 (Abdul Khan 42nd, Muhammad Dilber 55th) bt China

Eves take on Thailand 

The Indian women’s hockey squad is commencing its campaign here on Monday, hoping to get into the medal bracket once again when they take on Thailand in their Group A opener, adds PTI

India are pooled with three-time defending champions China, Malaysia and Thailand and are expected to win the matches against the last two teams which will ensure their berth in the semis, their first aim.

With vice-captain Deepika at the helm of defence and captain Ritu Rani guiding the others from midfield, it is being ho­ped that forwards Rani, Po­onam Rani, Vandana Kat­a­riya and Navjot Kaur would be speedy and thrustful to break open rival defence and create opportunities to score.