India crush US 22-0 in junior hockey meet

Johor Bahru: The Indian junior mens hockey team thrashed the United States 22-0 to register their third consecutive win of the 7th Sultan of Johor Cup at the Taman Daya Hockey Stadium here on Wednesday.

It was goals galore in India's third match of the tournament. The 22 goals for India were scored by 10 different goal-scorers as the team climbed to the top of the points table with nine points from their three matches.

Harmanjit Singh (25th, 26th, 40th, 45th and 52nd minutes), Abhishek (28th, 37th, 38th, 45th), Vishal Antil (2nd, 30th, 44th), Dilpreet Singh (3rd, 54th, 59th), Maninder Singh (42nd, 43rd), Pratap Lakra (2nd), Rabichandra Moirangthem (7th), Raushan Kumar (37th), Shilanand Lakra (47th) and Vivek Prasad (48th) scored as India ran away with a comfortable victory.

The goal-scoring for India started as early as in the 2nd minute of the match where two goals were scored in the same minute. The inexperience of the US and the gulf in class and quality meant that India dominated the proceedings throughout the match as they scored four goals inside the first quarter.

In the second quarter, four more goals were scored by the Indian team as they utilised the opportunity to give game-time to all the 18 squad members. India went into half-time leading 8-0 after their attackers and defenders were all on the attack.

India turned on the heat in the third quarter as they scored nine goals in 15 minutes which saw the crowd at the stadium get entertained with some sublime finishing by the Indian team.

The fourth quarter saw a similar story as the Indian team scored five more goals, continuing with their attacking flair to win the game.

The US had earlier conceded a total of 30 goals in their first two games where Australia beat them 19-0 and Britain 11-0.

India, on the other hand, will take the win as a good warm up for their tough upcoming matches against the likes of Australia and Great Britain.

India will now face Australia in their fourth match on Thursday.