JOIN USIndia drub Oman for second win
The Indian men’s hockey team once again gave no room for complacency, romping to a crushing 7-0 win over minnows Oman here at the Asian Games on Tuesday.
Drag-flickers and partners in defence, VR Raghunath and Rupinder Pal Singh, scored a brace each while Akashdeep Singh, SV Sunil and Danish Mujtaba struck one apiece as India coasted to a second straight win at the Soenhak Hockey Stadium.
The Indians, despite being overwhelming favourites for the match, started on a cautious note with the Omani players happy to stay back and defend.
The strange opening strategy by India saw no goals in the first quarter before things picked up in the second.
The Indians earned a penalty corner in the 18th minute which Rupinder nailed home and the strapping defender struck again in the next minute, also from a vicious drag-flick.India’s third goal also came through penalty corner, this time Akashdeep being the converter in the 33rd minute. Raghunath then rifled in from the spot in the 39th minute as India ended the third quarter with a healthy 4-0 lead.
With their backs to the wall, Omani players tried to make a match out of it in the final quarter which presented the Indian defence some challenge. They stood up to it well and with Oman too coming forward, the Indians had a chance to extend their lead which they did quite comfortably.
Sunil scored from a penalty corner in the 54th minute and goals in the final minute through Mujtaba and Raghunath wrapped up the proceedings.
India take on arch-rivals Pakistan on Friday at 1.30 pm IST in their third group game.Results: Men: Pool A: Bangladesh: 2 (Khorshdur Rahman 25th, Pushkor Khisa 22nd) bt Singapore: 1 (Ru Yi Tan 47th).
Korea: 4 (Hyosik You 33rd, Jonghyun 7th, 33rd, Hyunwoo Nam 15th) bt Japan: 0. Pool B: China: 6 (Liguang E 52nd, Yang Ao 3rd, Xiaoping Guo 56th, Long Sun 18th, Yang Dong 41st, Zhixuan Zhang 51st) bt Sri Lanka: 0.
India: 7 (Rupinderpal Singh 18th, 19th, VR Raghunath 39th, 60th, Danish Mujtaba 60th, SV Sunil 54th, Akashdeep Singh 33rd) bt Oman: 0.