Reminiscent of far more resilience than what the Bollywood film 'Chak De' portrayed, Indian women hockey team got off to a roaring start, thrashing Singapore 10-0 in their opening clash of the womens Asia Cup 2017 in Kakamigahara, Japan on Saturday.
Stunning goals in quick sequence by Navneet Kaur (3' and 41'), Rani (15' and 18'), Lalremsiami (18'), Deep Grace Ekka (25'), Navjot Kaur (30' and 50'), Gurjit Kaur (41') and Sonika (45') ensured India notched up the winning points in their opening match in Pool A.
The match began with India swaying the field in a positive game, attacking Singapore's circle and constantly finding an opportunity to score at every opportunity. The team effort worked beyond what the film 'Chak De' showed for the viewers as the team won back-to-back penalty corners in the first quarter.
The first PC was saved by Singapore goalkeeper Felissa Lai, but it could hardly save the team from being dented by India's spirit whose precise attacking minted goals in their counter. It was Navneet and Rani's goals in the 3rd and 15th minute that gave India a clear edge of 2-0 lead in the first quarter.
India continued their field run in the 2nd quarter, adding four more goals to their lead with Lalremsiami, Rani, Deep Grace Ekka and Navjot going into the 10-minute half-time break with an imposing 6-0 lead.
After Grace scored off a PC in the 25th minute, dragflicker Gurjit Kaur turned fierce in her strike to score India's undaunted 7th goal through a PC in the 41st minute.
India stayed aloft throughout the match bringing Singapore under constant pressure with their defence which failed to stop the juggernatu of two more goals in the 3rd quarter through Navneet and Sonika in the 41st and 45th minute respectively.
The final 15 minutes saw India win back-to-back PCs but Singapore defence again conceded the last one when a quick-thinking Navjot scored a field goal in the 50th minute to earn her team a 10-0 lead.
Earlier in the day, China beat Malaysia 5-4 in a closely fought encounter.
(With inputs from IANS)
