INDIAN WAVE SWAMPS PAK
India hockey player Mandeep Singh celebrates after scoring a goal against Pakistan during the Champions Trophy Hockey 2018 in Breda, Netherlands, on Saturday. India defeated archrivals Pakistan by a comfortable margin of 4- 0 in the opening match.
Breda ( the Netherlands), June 23: India reasserted their supremacy over Pakistan with a clinical 4- 0 decimation of their arch- rivals in the opening match of the Champions Trophy hockey tournament, on Saturday.
Coming into the tournament off a disastrous Commonwealth Games campaign in Australia where they finished a disappointing fourth, the Indians scored four time from field goals to show they meant business here.
Ramandeep, dropped from the CWG squad, answered his critics in style finding the net in 26th minute before young Dilpreet Singh ( 54th), Mandeep Singh ( 57th) and Lalit Upadhayay ( 60th) joined the scorers’ list.
India, eyeing a maiden Champions Trophy title, play reigning Olympic champions Argentina in their next round- robin league match on Sunday.
The win also marked a positive start to India’s chief coach Harendra Singh’s fourth stint with the senior national side. Harendra took over the reins after swapping roles with Sjoerd Marijne, following India’s poor CWG campaign.
The Indians looked a compact side in all departments of the game with the strikers utilising opportunities that came their way while the defence came up with a superlative show.
The Indians started positively and applied pressure on the Pakistan defence from the word go and in the process secured a penalty corner in the 13th minute but Harmanpreet’s attempt was saved by goalkeeper Imran Butt.
India got another set piece soon after the start of second quarter but wasted the chance.
It still didn’t take long for India to break the deadlock. In the 26th minute Ramandeep deflected in a Simranjeet Singh’s reverse pass to open the scoring.
Pakistan came out all guns blazing after the change of ends and dominated proceedings in the third quarter with repeated raids but failed to break the resolute Indian defence.
Two minutes into the third quarter, Ali Shan scored an opportunistic goal but the goal was disallowed for a foul after Harmanpreet Singh asked for a referral.
Minutes later, India goalkeeper P. R. Sreejesh made a fine save to deny Toseeq Arshad.
Pakistan kept up the pressure and earned a penalty corner in the 43rd minute but to no avail. After weathering the storm, India doubled their lead in the 54th minute through 17- yearold Dilpreet, who picked up a long pass from Simranjeet and then dodged an onrushing Butt to slot home.
Ramandeep Singh, dropped from the CWG squad, answered his critics in style finding the net in 26th minute before young Dilpreet Singh ( 54th), Mandeep Singh ( 57th) and Lalit Upadhayay ( 60th) joined the scorers’ list.