Fancied India produced a dominant performance to crush Kazakhstan 15-0 in an utterly lopsided game and march into the Super 4 stage of the Asia Cup hockey tournament with an all-win record here on Monday.
Abhishek (5th, 8th, 20th and 59th), Sukhjeet Singh (15th, 32nd, 38th), Jugraj Singh (24th, 31st, 47th), skipper Harmanpreet Singh (26th), Amit Rohidas (29th), Rajinder Singh (32nd), Sanjay Singh (54th), Dilpreet Singh (55th) scored the goals for India.
Pool A toppers India found the net four times in the second quarter and led Kazakhstan 7-0 at halftime, even as Abhishek completed his hat-trick five minutes into the second quarter in a thoroughly dominant showing by the home team.
Abhishek’s striking partner, Sukhjeet, and Jugraj also scored hat-tricks in the one-sided match. India had beaten China and Japan in their first two matches.
The winner of the continental tournament will qualify for next year’s World Cup to be jointly hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands.
Earlier, Malaysia and Korea won their respective Pool B matches convincingly to progress to the Super 4 stage of the men’s Asia Cup hockey tournament on Monday.
While Malaysia thrashed Chinese Taipei 15-0, Korea prevailed over Bangladesh
5-1. Malaysia topped the pool with three wins from as many matches, while Korea finished second with six points.
Bangladesh finished third with three points, while Chinese Taipei remained winless. In the second match of the day, Malaysia scored through Ashran Hamsani (8th, 15th, 32nd, 54th minutes), Akhimullah Anuar (10th, 20th, 29th, 45, 56th), Norsyafiq Sumantri (20th, 40th, 60th), Abu Kamal Azrai (22nd), Andywalfian Effrynus (24th), and Aiman Rozemi (32nd).
In the day’s first Pool B match, Dain Son (9th, 11th) scored a brace, while Seungwoo Lee (16th), Seyong Oh (22nd), and Jihun
Yang (60th) struck a goal each for Korea.
Bangladesh’s lone goal came from the sticks of Sohanur Sobuj in the 22nd minute.