Penalty-corner specialist Rupinder Pal Singh was the cynosure of all eyes here on Thursday as his six-goal feat boosted India to a 10-2 victory over Japan in the Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament.
Sending his initial four penalty-corner shots into the Japanese citadel with precision, Rupinder made the most of the early chances to set the trend for this massive victory.
This was India’s first outing after the quarterfinal ouster from the Olympic Games at Rio de Janeiro.
Boosting his tally to 165 goals from 153 matches, the 25-year-old Rupinder is India’s highest goal-scorer in international hockey this year.
Two goals from Ramandeep Singh and a goal each from Talwinder Singh and Yousuf Affan completed India’s tally.
Earlier, Faisal Saari scored twice as Malaysia stunned defending champion Pakistan 4-2.
The results: India 10 (Rupinder 6, Ramandeep 2, Talwinder, Yousuf Affan) bt Japan 2 (Kenta Tanaka, Hiromasa Ochiai).
Malaysia 4 (Firhan Ansari, Faisal Saari 2, Shahril Saabah) bt Pakistan 2 (Muhammad Aleem Bilal 2).
