The Indian men's hockey team on Wednesday recorded its biggest ever win in international hockey as it annihilated Hong Kong China 26-0 in a Pool B match of the Asian Games, bettering an 86-year-old mark here.
Defending champions India bettered its record set way back in 1932 when the national team, which had legendary Dhyan Chand, Roop Singh and Gurmeet Singh, thrashed USA 24-1 in the Olympics at los Angeles.
The record for the biggest win remains with New Zealand, who beat Samoa 36-1 in 1994.
Such was their dominance that with seven minutes to go India took its goalkeeper off the field.
As many as 13 Indian players registered their names in the scoresheet on Wednesday.
Rupinderpal Singh (3rd, 5th, 30th, 45th, 59th minutes), Harmanpreet Singh (29th, 52nd, 53rd, 54th) and Akashdeep Singh (2nd, 32nd, 35th) scored a hattrick each, while Manpreet Singh (3rd, 17th), lalit Upadhayay (17th, 19th), Varun Kumar (23rd, 30th), SV Sunil (7th), Vivek Sagar Prasad (14th), Mandeep Singh (21st), Amit Rohidas (27th), Dilpreet Singh (48th), Chinglensana Singh (51st), Simranjeet Singh (53rd) and Surender Kumar (55th) were the other goal getters for India.
It was always expected to be a lop-sided affair between world No 5 India and world No 45 Hong Kong China and it turned out to be exactly the same.
With a keeper-less Indian goalpost to attack, Hong Kong China earned its first chance to get on when they earned their first penalty corner but India went for the review which turned out to be successful.
India's chief coach Harendra Singh was happy for his players and said they are now part of a legacy which will be always be remembered in the history of Indian hockey.
"For me it does not matter, but for the players it is a proud moment. When history will be discussed, the names of these 18 players will be there. The record is always for the players," Harendra told reporters.
India did not show any mercy to their opponents, scoring four goals in the first five minutes of the match. They ended the first quarter with a comprehensive six-goal lead and made it 14-0 after adding eight in the second quarter.
It turned out to be just a practice match for India, which had trounced hosts Indonesia 17-0 in their first pool match.
The play was restricted to Hong Kong China's half and Indian captain P R Sreejesh, guarding the goal post, was not challenged even once.
If goalkeeper Michael Chung had not made a few good saves in the third quarter, the scoreline could have been even more worse for Hong Kong China.
While Sreejesh guarded the post in the first half, Krishan Bahadur Pathak did the duty after the change of ends.
With India set to take on Japan on Friday and Korea on Saturda, India coach Harendra said "the real Asian Games will begin now" for the defending champions.
‘create legacy'
When India led 14-0 at half time against minnows Hong Kong China, chief coach Harendra Singh gave just one instruction to his players -- "be ruthless and create your legacy".
The Indian players did respond to the message by trouncing Hong Kong China 26-0 and erased an 86-year-old record.
"We knew it's possible, it was realistic, so I told the boys, go and create your own legacy and your names will be etched in history," Harendra said after the win.
But asked if a record-win against a weak opposition is satisfying for the coach and the players, Harendra replied: "I believe in a thought process that if you have to kill, you have to kill mercilessly.
"For me it (record) does not matter, but for the players it is a proud moment. Team is bigger than the coach. When history will be discussed, the names of these 18 players will be there. The record is always for the players," he said.
The coach also felt that there was nothing wrong in having weaker sides in the competition.
"I look it from different angle. For the first time we have 12 teams competing in the Asian Games. You can't have quality all the time. Sometimes you need to have quantity to produce quality," Harendra said.
Asked if he still feels his players can improve upon their game going forward in the tournament, the coach said, "Yes, the players still need to be careful that they not only reach the centre and penetrate the circle but also execute the whole plan. It will be good if unforced errors are cut down."
Midfielder Manpreet Singh also felt that there is nothing wrong in letting weaker teams compete at such big events.
"Japan at one time was a very low-ranked team and see where they are now. So these teams will also improve. They will also grow," he said.
He said the Indian team is happy to be a part of history but their focus remains on the future course of the tournament.
"It's good to create history by scoring that many goals but our focus is to be ready for the next matches. We wanted to improve on variation, rhythm and ball speed control ahead of tough games against Japan and Korea,' Manpreet said.