Harpal Singh Bedi
Displaying awesome fire power India thrashed Canada 10-1 to qualify for the quarterfinals of the Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.
With this win, India finished at second position in the Pool C table with six points to make it to the knock out stage in style. For the winners, Aditya Arjun Lalage (8’, 43’), Rohit (12′, 55’), Amandeep Lakra (23’, 51’), Vishnukant (42’), Rajinder (42’), Kushwaha Sourabh Anand (51’) and Uttam Singh (58’) were the goal scorers. For Canada, Jude Nicholson (20’) was on target.
India made an aggressive start in the opening minutes as they put pressure on Canada’s defence. With constant attacking, they took 1-0 lead through Aditya Arjun Lalage (8’), scoring an excellent field goal.
The Indian forwards stitched together clever strategy that forced the rival defenders to make errors. The plan worked as the men in blue managed to get a PC which was successfully converted by Rohit (12’) and India doubled their lead.
The second quarter saw Canada bounce back when Jude Nicholson scored a fine field goal in the 21st minute to get them back in the game. However, that did not deter the rampaging Indians as they extended their lead through Amandeep Lakra (23’) who successfully converted the PC. At the end of the first-half, India led 3-1.
With Canada trying to find ways to bounce back, the third quarter was entertaining with both teams displaying quick-fire hockey with both teams stepping up the ante in attack.
With India putting constant pressure on Canadian defenders, India extended their lead as Vishnukant Singh (42’) found the back of the net scoring a field goal. The winners made it 5-1 through Rajinder Singh (42’). In the dying minutes of the quarter, Aditya Arjun Lalage (43’) scored his second goal of the game and extended India’s lead further to 6-1.
With 15 minutes left on the clock, India started mounted more pressure on Canada. With constant attacking moves, Kushwaha Sourabh Anand (51’), Amandeep Lakra (51’) and Rohit (55’) added three more goals to tally and made it 9-1 to India. Captain Uttam Singh made it 10-1 with two minutes remaining.