Women’s hockey team returns to turf with facile victory
NEW DELHI: The Indian women’s hockey team returned to action for the first time since the fourth place finish at the Tokyo Olympics by hammering Thailand 13-0 in their opening game of the Asian Champions Trophy in Donghae, South Korea.
FIH Women’s Player of the Year Gurjit Kaur scored five goals to lead the scoring spree for India in the six-team tournament. With skipper Rani Rampal rested, India are being led by seasoned goalkeeper Savita.
Gurjit gave the lead in the second minute by converting a penalty stroke, awarded following an infringement by Thailand in the defence. The drag-flicker had scored four goals in Tokyo.
Thailand were on the backfoot straightaway and Vandana Katariya, the only Indian woman to achieve a hat-trick at the Olympics, scored the second five minutes later. By the time the first quarter ended, Lilima Minz had added another field goal in the 14th with Gurjit and Jyoti scoring two more from penalty corners in the 14th and 15th minutes, giving India a 5-0 lead.
The second quarter started the same way as India kept possession. Debutant Rajwinder Kaur (16th) scored a field goal, Gurjit struck her third and Lilima her second in the 24th minute. India converted another penalty corner in the 25th minute through Gurjit, taking a 9-0 half-time lead.
India’s dominance continued as they made threatening circle penetrations from the left flank. Thailand defended well for the first six minutes of the third quarter until Jyoti broke the resistance by scoring another field goal in the 36th minute. A defensive error four minutes later gave India another short corner but Gurjit’s flick was deflected. A well-constructed move in the 43rd minute caught Thailand defence napping and Sonika scored her first goal.
The fourth quarter, Navneet Kaur made penetrating runs from the right flank, but the Thai defence managed to keep her at bay. In the 55th minute, Monika got her stick on a long pass inside the circle to deflect the ball in to extend India’s lead. Three minutes later, Gurjit scored her fifth from a penalty corner, 13th goal.
India’s next game against Malaysia will not be played on Monday due to Covid-19 related issues. “AHF (Asian Hockey Federation) regrets the unfortunate situation that has arisen, in large part due to significant, very recent changes in local and Korean Covid protocols based on high new case numbers in the country and region as well as the appearance of the new Covid variant, Omicron,” an AHF statement said. “The AHF and the Korean Hockey Association are doing their utmost to bring the Malaysian women’s team back later in the event.”