India off to successful begin, thrash China 7-2 in Asian Champions Trophy | Hockey Information – Occasions of India

NEW DELHI: India’s skipper Harmanpreet Singh and Varun Kumar every netted two targets, propelling the group to a dominant 7-2 victory towards China within the opening match of their Asian Champions Trophy hockey marketing campaign on the Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium in Chennai on Thursday.

The Indian facet wasted no time in taking management, with Harmanpreet showcasing his penalty nook experience to attain twice within the fifth and eighth minutes. Varun Kumar adopted go well with, including two extra penalty nook targets within the 19th and 30th minutes, solidifying India’s lead.
Not content material with simply penalty corners, India exhibited their attacking prowess in open play, with Sukhjeet Singh (15th), Akashdeep Singh (16th), and Mandeep Singh (40th) brilliantly discovering the again of the online.

Whereas China managed to reply with targets from Wenhui E (18th) and Jiesheng Gao (25th), they had been outclassed by India’s relentless attacking technique and strong protection.
The Males in Blue had been off to a powerful begin within the opening quarter, because it took them simply 5 minutes into the competition to earn a penalty nook, and skipper Harmanpreet made no mistake in efficiently changing it.
It didn’t too lengthy for India to double the lead.
Three minutes later, it was one other penalty nook and it yielded the identical consequence via the identical man, Harmanpreet.
Down by a few targets early into the tie, the Chinese language gamers struggled to penetrate the Indian defence, as many of the motion was going down within the Chinese language half.
On the stroke of the primary quarter stoppage, India acquired one other penalty nook. Varun’s preliminary flick was saved by the Chinese language defence however Sukhjeet scored from the rebound.
With a 3-Zero lead, India began the second quarter on on a assured observe.
Simply two minutes into the quarter, Akshdeep scored from an help from Manpreet Singh as India went 4-Zero up.
Nevertheless, only a minute later, China broke free, with Varun failing to deal with an ariel ball, as Wenhui despatched it previous Indian goalkeeper Krishan Bahadur Pathak.
However the Chinese language objective hardly had any impression as a minute later, Varun discovered the again of the online from a set piece.
It was not till the 25th minute that China acquired their first penalty nook.
Whereas the preliminary one was unsuccessful, the ensuing nook led to Gao firing it previous Pathak.
On the stroke of half-time, it was one more penalty nook for India, with Varun capturing it into the top-right nook, because the hosts moved into the break with a 6-2 benefit.
After the change of ends, issues didn’t change for China.
Though China tried to up the ante, they gave away a few corners once more, and the one within the 40th minute noticed Amit Rohidas’s large flick being angled in by Mandeep Singh for India’s seventh objective.
Whereas the third quarter was a comparatively quiet one, the ultimate quarter was even quieter, as regardless of the 2 sides incomes a couple of penalty corners, none may put the ball into the online.
India will play Japan subsequent on Friday.
(With PTI Inputs)