MOQI, CHINA, Sept 19: Indian Women walloped arch-rivals Pakistan by 19-0 and stormed into the semifinals of the Asian Junior Hockey championship here on Thursday.
The much-expected quarterfinal contest, turned out to be a one horse race as India dominated right from the first whistle to the hooter, peppering the Pakistani defence time and again to find targets at regular intervals.
It rained goals in all the four quarters the moment India opened the flood gates as early as in the 7th minute after two short corners went a begging. The first two quarters yielded five goals each, which was followed by three in the third and another six in the final quarter as the Indians completed a commanding and ruthless win enter the last four, high on confidence.
India will face the winner of the fourth QF clash between Korea and Malaysia in the semifinals on September 12.
India began the match with relentless attacking intent and won two penalty corners within the opening five minutes, although they were unable to convert either opportunity. Their sustained pressure soon paid off when they found the back of the net in the sixth minute, only for the goal to be disallowed following a referral.
India continued to press and were awarded another penalty corner a minute later. Puja Sahoo made no mistake this time, converting in the seventh minute to give India a 1-0 lead.
India quickly doubled their advantage when Roshni Aind scored a field goal in the ninth minute. The Indian side continued to dominate possession and territory, and their fourth penalty corner of the quarter resulted in another goal, with Tanushree Dinesh Kadu scoring through a deflection in the 11th minute to make it 3-0.
India’s relentless pressure continued as Pakistan conceded a foul inside the circle, resulting in a penalty stroke. Sukhveer Kaur calmly converted from the spot in the 13th minute to extend India’s lead to 4-0.
India added another goal almost immediately, with Sanika Chandrakant Mane finding the back of the net with a field goal to make it 5-0 at the end of the opening quarter.
India continued their dominance into the second quarter. Madhu Sidar scored a field goal in the 16th minute before Geeta Yadav added another two minutes later to take India’s lead to 7-0.
India kept the pressure on and Sanika Mane scored again in the 23rd minute to complete her brace and make it 8-0. Tanuja Toppo then registered her first goal of the match in the 25th minute as India moved to 9-0. India continued to win penalty corners and eventually converted another in the 27th minute, with Pooja Malik finding the target to make it 10-0.
The Indian side headed into the half-time break with a commanding 10-0 advantage after a dominant first half in which they had already earned eight penalty corners and a penalty stroke.
India showed no signs of slowing down after the break. Three minutes into the third quarter, another penalty corner resulted in a goal as Purnima Yadav scored through a deflection to make it 11-0. Madhu Sidar found the target again in the 39th minute off a short corner, with a deflection to complete her brace and extend the lead to 12-0 and Supriya converted yet another in the next minute to make it 13-0.
The Indian side continued their attacking approach in the final quarter and added six more goals. Krishna Sharma scored her first goal of the tournament with a field goal in the 48th minute to make it 14-0. Pooja Malik struck twice in succession in th 50th and 51st minutes to complete her hat-trick and swell the lead to 16-0. Supriya made it 17-0 in the 54th minute before Bionma Dhan and Roshni Aind too had their names in the scorer’s list as Indian trooped out, hardly untested.
Statistics underlined India’s complete dominance throughout the contest. It scored 19 goals, earned 18 penalty corners and one penalty stroke, while Pakistan failed to score and neither earned a penalty corner nor a penalty stroke.