With an authoritative 7-0 win over Oman, India moved up a step further in its immediate goal of reaching the top of the Pool ‘B’ in the hockey competition here. What disturbed, and more so, distracted the Indians in the early part of the encounter was the uninhibited approach of the Oman defenders, whose tackles bordered on aggression.
The first quarter went goal-less. It took quite a while for India to settle down. The pressure exerted by the Indians mirrored in the seven penalty corners. Two immaculately executed shots by the Rupinderpal Singh lifted the confidence of the team but it was unfortunate that the striker sustained a thigh injury in the penalty corner skirmish. He took no further part in the match.
Gurbaj Singh played the key role in the midfield where the usually hard-working Sardar Singh looked subdued. Gurbaj teamed up well with Sunil on the wing and kept up a steady stream of passes. The frontline, however, lacked the harmony.
Akashdeep Singh, on whom the attack leaned heavily, was found wanting at crucial moments although he came up with a handsome deflection off the penalty corner drive by Raghunath in the third quarter. Sunil put the finishing touches to a penalty corner by Raghunath in the fourth-quarter and that was followed by a lovely goal by Danish Mujtaba off a cross from Sunil.
Raghunath then scored off a penalty corner to finish the contest in style.
The results:
Men: Pool: A: Korea 4 (Nam Hyunwoo, Jong Janghyun 2, You Hyosik) bt Japan 0. Pool B: China 6 (Ao Yang, Sun Long, Yang Dong, Zhang Zhixuan, Liguang, Guo Xiaoping) bt Sri Lanka 0.
Pool B : India 7 (Rupinderpal Singh 2 Akashdeep Singh, V. Raghunath 2, Ramandeep Singh, Danish Mujtaba) bt Oman 0.
Pool A: Bangladesh 2 (Pushkar Khisha, Rahaman Khorshadur) bt Singapore 1 (Tan Yi Ru).
Wednesday’s matches : Women: Pool B: Hong Kong China v Kazakhstan; India v China. Pool A: Malaysia v Thailand); Japan v Korea.