Sat, Nov 13 10 09:07 PM
S S Ramaswamy Guangzhou, Nov 13 (PTI) Indian women''s hockey team outclassed Malaysia 4-0 in their opening Group A match to start their Asian Games campaign on a rousing note at the Aoti Hockey Field here today. The feature of coach Sandeep Somesh''s girls victory was that all the strikes came from were field efforts. The 2006 bronze medalists and 1982 gold medal winners led 1-0 at half time before pumping in three more goals in the second period to complete the rout. Thokchom Chanchan Devi (26th minute), Deepika (43rd), Rani Rampal (53rd) and captain Surinder Kaur were the goal-scorers. India will next play Japan in their next group match on November 16. Against Malaysia today, India were by far the better side on display under lights at the Aoti Hockey Field here this evening as they controlled the game for the entire 70 minutes. After having the better of the share of play, India took the lead in the 26th minute when Chanchan Devi slotted home the ball after receiving a pass from her strike partner Rampal, who dribbled her way past two defenders to set it up for Chanchan. After the breather, the Indians were right on the attack and kept the pressure on the rival goal through Rani and Deepika to reap rich rewards. It was Deepika who doubled the lead in the 43rd minute after receiving a Jasjeet Kaur Handa pass from the baseline. Rampal then made it 3-0 10 minutes later after cleverly wrong-footing Malaysia goalkeeper Yahya Farah Ayuni. The scoreline could have been 4-1 but the woodwork came to India''s rescue in the 57th minute off a penalty corner before Surinder sealed the victory for her side three minutes from the hooter. Assistant coach Khalid Modi expressed happiness over the positive start but added that the team management was taking it match by match. "It is a very good start as the Malaysians are very tough opponents. We have crossed our first hurdle, but cannot remain complacent," he said. In the day''s other matches, South Korea drubbed Thailand 5-0 while Japan overwhelmed Kazakhstan 4-1.
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