The Indian Junior men’s hockey team continued its dominant performance at the Men’s Junior Asia Cup as it convincingly beat Chinese Taipei 16-0 in a pool A match in Muscat, Oman on Saturday.
Dilraj Singh (17’, 40’, 45’, 57’) starred in the match with four scintillating goals while India’s defence held the fort with goalies Bikramjit Singh and Prince Deep Singh ensuring a clean slate.
Riding on its 3-2 win against a tough opponent like Japan in its previous match, India began attacking early on that fetched positive outcome. In only the seventh minute of the match, the team’s forwards secured a penalty corner which was finely struck by Yogember Rawat.
It was mercurial forward Dilraj Singh, instrumental in India’s performance in the recent Sultan of Johor Cup, who was the cynosure of the team’s attack against Chinese Taipei. He scored the team’s second goal in the 17th minute. Sourabh Anand Kushwaha (20’, 28’) scored twice in this quarter while Rosan Kujur (23’) too added to the team’s 5-0 lead by half-time.
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India continued to demolish the Chinese Taipei’s defence with back-to-back goals in the third quarter. It pumped a goal just a minute into the third quarter through Talem Priyobarta’s penalty corner. Rosan Kujur scored his second goal in the 32nd minute taking India’s lead to a formidable 7-0.
Arshdeep Singh arrived to the party in the 37th minute with a penalty corner goal which was followed by a penalty stroke in the 39th minute by Sharda Nand Tiwari. This took India’s lead to 9-0.
The team scored four more goals in this quarter through Dilraj Singh (40’, 45’), Rosan Kujur (42’) both of whom completed a hat-trick of goals. Arshdeep too added to the scoresheet in the 44th minute giving India a 13-0 lead before entering the last quarter of the match.
Stylish forward Araijeet Singh Hundal entered his name on the score sheet in the 54th minute through a field goal while Dilraj scored his fourth individual goal in the 57th minute. Sourabh Anand too completed his hat-trick with a 58th minute field goal.
This high-scoring win ensured India remained on top of the table with nine points in pool A. It will take on Korea in its next match on December 1 at 8:30 pm IST.
