Indian hockey strikes a purple patch, Junior women, Men record wins

Indian hockey appears to have hit a purple patch. After the Junior men won the prestigious AHF Hockey Junior Men Asia Cup in Salalah, Indian men shocked Olympic champions Belgium 5-1 in the elite FIH Pro League. To cap it all, Indian junior women made a flying start with a smashing 22-0 win over Uzbekistan at Kawasaki Heavy Industries Hockey Stadium, Kakamigahara, Japan, on Saturday.

Indian men achieved yet another surprise result by winning a bonus point in the penalty shootout (4-2) after a 4-4 draw in the regulation period in the FIH Pro League in London on Sunday.

In fact, it was raining goals in the AHF Hockey Junior Women Asia Cup at Kakamigahara, where the first round of pool matches witnessed a feast of goals. Japan took the honours by recording the biggest win of the day. The hosts defeated Hong Kong China 23-0; one goal more than the pre-tournament favorite India recorded against Uzbekistan.

In another match, China defeated Indonesia 18-0 while in the opening game, Korea toppled Chinese Taipei.

For Indian girls, goals came at their free will. While Annu (six) was the highest individual scorer, other Indian players to record hat-tricks of goals were Deepika and Mumtaz with four goals each. PV Vithal, S. Toppo and Deepika Soerang scored two goals each while C. Manju and Neelam also got their names on the scoring list with a goal each.

Top three teams from the tournament will qualify for the FIH Hockey Junior Women World Cup to be played in Santiago later this year.

Prabhjot Singh