Muscat: Defending champions India outclassed Singapore 9-1 to book their spot in the semifinals of the Asia Cup women’s hockey tournament, here on Monday.
India qualified as the second placed team with six points from three matches, with their only loss coming against Japan.
INDIA ALL THE WAY
India were off to a rollicking start as they scored three goals in about 11 minutes.
Monika started off the goalfest as her reverse flick landed in the left bottom corner.
Vandana Katariya doubled the lead in no time with a deflected goal and then Gurjit Kaur converted a penalty corner to fetch India’s third goal.
Mariana Kujur then slammed the fourth goal from a close-in range to give India a 4-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
India were dominating the game through and through and were well set to add a lot more goals in the second quarter.
And that’s exactly what happened when Monika sounded the board after a penalty corner conversion to make it 5-0.
India were right on top and Singapore were in tatters struggling to contain the marauding Indian forwards.
Singapore averted further damage as India missed a couple of penalty corners ending the second quarter at 5-0.
After the commencement of the third quarter, Gurjit Kaur converted a penalty corner to take India’s lead to 6-0.
The Indians were toying with the Singapore defence and goals were always around the corner.
Then much against the run of play, Singapore found a consolation goal through a penalty corner conversion by Sardonna.
India immediately responded to that goal when Jyoti deflected a cross from the left flank to add the seventh goal in India’s kitty.
Gurjit Kaur continued her scintillating form on the night as she converted her third successful penalty corner as India went up 8-1.
Jyoti scored another one with three minutes to go as it was 9-1 India.
JAPAN CRUSH MALAYSIA
Earlier, Japan pummelled Malaysia 8-0 in their Pool A match to confirm their place in the semifinals as the group toppers.
It was a thoroughly clinical performance from the Japanese riding high on their hard-fought and much deserved win over defending champions India on Sunday.
Goals from Yuri Nagai (4th), Shihori Oikawa (20th), Kaho Tanaka (16th, 28th, 39th), Mai Toriyama (30th), Kana Urata (48th), Sakurako Omoto (57th) propelled Japan to the huge victory.
Malaysia were completely outplayed by the much superior Japanese outfit and struggled to score even a single goal.
