The Indian men’s hockey team began their campaign at the men’s Asian Hockey 5s World Cup Qualifier with a solid 15-1 win over Bangladesh in Salalah, Oman, on Tuesday. For India, Maninder Singh (10’, 18’, 28’, 30’), Mohammed Raheel (2’, 15’, 24’), Sukhvinder (13’, 22’), Gurjot Singh (13’, 23’), Pawan Rajbhar (19’, 26’), Mandeep Mor (8’), and Dipsan Tirkey (9’) were on target. For Bangladesh, Sawon Sarowar (2’) scored the sole goal.
India started the match on the front foot, allowing Rajbhar to make a penetrating run. But Bangladesh made the save and caught India on the counter-attack, Sarowar scoring the first goal in the match for Bangladesh. Raheel brought India back to level terms straightaway with a powerful shot of his own. After the initial flurry of attacks, both India and Bangladesh started playing cautiously to avoid early goals.
But the hold was broken by Indian skipper Mor, who struck a stunning goal in the 8th minute to put India in the lead. With consecutive goals from Tirkey and Maninder, India extended their lead to 4-1 in the next couple of minutes. A stunning save from goalkeeper Suraj Karkera led to an Indian counter-attack and Gurjot made the most of it, scoring his first. Goals from Sukhvinder and Raheel’s second goal closed out the first half with India leading by 7-1.
India began the second half with another attack from the right flank and Maninder struck the back of the nets again to continue the goalfest for India. Less than a minute later, Rajbhar put his name on the scoresheet with the ninth goal for India. Maintaining possession, India pressed deeper in Bangladesh’s half, and Sukhvinder took India’s goal tally to double figures with a shot from near the halfway mark.
A minute later, Gurjot netted his second goal as India further extended their lead. A reverse hit from Raheel to complete his hat-trick two minutes later as India continued to give no respite to the opposition’s defence. With two minutes left on the clock, Maninder also completed his hat-trick, and scored another goal at the stroke of the final whistle, to help India secure a dominant 15-1 win.
India will next face off against hosts Oman at 3:30PM IST and Pakistan at 8:30PM IST on August 30.
The men’s Asian Hockey 5s World Cup Qualifier will be live streamed on https://www.youtube.com/@AsianHockeyFederation
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