India thrash SA in hockey World Cup

BHUBANESWAR, India: Simranjeet Singh scored a brace while Manpreet Singh, Akashdeep Singh and Lalit Upadhyay also got onto the scoresheet as India hammered South Africa 5-0 in their first pool match of the Hockey World Cup here on Wednesday.

The Indians toyed with the South African defence in the first quarter as they mounted numerous attacks on the opposition goal and succeeded on two occasions to take a comfortable 2-0 lead.

India’s first chance came in the third minute when skipper Manpreet found an unmarked Mandeep alone inside the box with a defence-splitting pass but the striker failed to get his stick to the ball. But India took the lead soon when Mandeep scored from a rebound in the 10th minute on the hosts’ first penalty corner.

It was Mandeep who earned the penalty corner for India after beautifully controlling a long scoop from Harmanpreet. He then found himself at the right place at the right time to slot home after Harmanpreet’s high flick was saved by South Africa goalkeeper Rassie Pieterse.

Three minutes later, India doubled their lead through Akashdeep, who scored after the ball fell in front of his stick from a deflection off Simranjit. South Africa showed glimpses of a comeback thereafter and came close to scoring in the 40th minute but an alert Indian custodian P R Sreejesh came out of his line to deny Richard Pautz.

India scored three fine field goals in a span of four minutes to take the match out of South Africa’s reach. Simranjeet scored his first goal in the 43rd minute by tapping in after Mandeep dribbled past a few South African defenders to set it up for his strike mate.

Then, a diving Lalit deflected in a diagonal pass from Akashdeep before Simranjeet was once again at the thick of things, scoring his second of the day from India’s fourth penalty corner. Earlier, Olympic silver medallists Belgium’s quest for a maiden men’s World Cup title started with a fighting 2-1 win over minnows Canada.In tomorrow’s matches, Olympic champions Argentina will play Spain in Pool A while New Zealand will take on France.