Defending champions India started their men’s junior Asia Cup campaign on a rousing note, thrashing lowly Thailand 11-0 in a lop-sided Pool A match in Muscat on Wednesday. Besides India and Thailand, Chinese Taipei, Japan and South Korea are the other teams in Pool A. Pool B consists of arch-rivals Pakistan, Malaysia, Bangladesh, hosts Oman and China. Araijeet Singh Hundal (2nd minute, 24th), Arshdeep Singh (8th), Gurjot Singh (18th, 45th), Sourabh Anand Kushwaha (19th, 52nd), Dilraj Singh (21st) and Mukesh Toppo (59th) struck from field play for India, while Sharda Nand Tiwari (10th) found the net from a penalty corner. Rohit (29th) converted a penalty stroke for the winners. India will next take on Japan on Thursday.
Firm favourites to lift the title, the Indians made a solid start to the tournament, scoring three goals in the opening quarter.
Araijeet started the scoring with a reverse flick on the near side which was later doubled by Arshdeep with an easy conversion on rebound.
Later, Sharda Nand added another goal with a powerful down-the-line drag-flick in the 10th minute.
The Indians continued to put pressure on the Thai defence with repeated raids but the opposition goalkeeper Thawin Phomjunt made some brilliant saves to deny the rivals.
Gurjot made it 4-0 for India on the reverse but this time on the far side of the goalkeeper.
A minute later, Sourabh chipped on the far side of the Thai goalkeeper to extend the lead.
It was raining goals for India as Dilraj scored a brilliant field goal by deflecting a long pass in the back of the net.
Araijeet scored his second goal of the day with a brilliant tomahawk to find the top-left corner of the Thai goal in the 24th minute.
Rohit then converted a penalty stroke a minute from half time to hand India a convincing 8-0 lead at the break.
The Indians were more composed after the change of ends and preferred to slow down the tempo, instead of going for all-out attack.
Gurjot scored the only goal of an uneventful third quarter seconds from the hooter with a fine deflection in front of the Thai goalkeeper as India extend their lead to 9-0.
The Indians played clever hockey in the fourth and final quarter by holding on to their possession with short, crisp passes in the midfield.
Sourabh then scored from another field effort in the 52nd minute to take India’s tally to double digit.
Toppo rounded off the scoresheet for India with another field strike from the edge of the box a minute from the final hooter.
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