India open campaign with easy victory over China

India smothered a spirited challenge from minnows China to score a 5-1 victory in their opening match of the sixth Asia cup hockey competiti...

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India smothered a spirited challenge from minnows China to score a 5-1 victory in their opening match of the sixth Asia cup hockey competition here today.

The fast-paced encounter saw India dominate the Chinese for the greater part of the 70 minutes though they were tested on a few occasions by their sturdy rivals.

Good ball possession and some excellent passes saw India score through defender Dilip Tirkey (5th, 37th) and Prabhjot Singh (41st and 59th). Gagan Ajit Singh was the other goal scorer for India, sounding the board in the 20th minute.

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For China the Song Yi scored the consolation goal in the 46th minute.

The win also helped India maintain a clean slate against China. India have won all the eight matches played between the two sides so far.

Though Indian coach Rajinder Singh was satisfied with the result he said his boys should have done better and won by a bigger margin.

“We gave a couple of chances to the Chinese. Our players especially (captain) Dhanraj Pillay were marked tightly,” the coach said.

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Earlier in the day, Kashif Jawaid scored a hat-trick as Pakistan started with a bang thrashing a hapless Bangladesh 8-0 in a pool B match.

Jawad scored in the 21st, 46th and 61st minutes while penalty corner expert Sohail Abbas struck a brace (26th, 62nd).

Others also made merry with Mudassar Ali (9th), captain Nadeem Ahmed (36th) and Rehan Butt (64th) heaping more misery on a mediocre Bangladesh side.

The best match of the day was between hosts Malaysia and defending champions South korea in Pool A.

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Malaysia, invariably the dark horse of the tournament, did extremely well to hold the Asian Games champions to a 1-1 draw. Korea went ahead in the third minute through Lee Jung Jung while Malaysia equalised through Chua Boon Huat three minutes before halftime.

In another Group A match, Japan thrashed Hong Kong 7-3.