India bulldozes Chinese wall

Besides the twin strikes each by the three, Len Aiyappa and Prabodh Tirkey struck one each for India while Song Yi scored the consolation goal for China.

Earlier, strong contenders South Korea maintained their superb momentum towards a semifinal berth as they blanked Singapore 10-0 in a Pool A match.

Coach CR Kumar was thrilled with the team’s showing and said the boys were looking forward to the tricky group clash with Japan, who also have two wins.

“The entire team played well and they didn’t repeat the mistakes they did against Bangladesh. I am very satisfied with the victory and both Gagan Ajit Singh and Deepak Thakur are now combining well with the rest of the team,” he said.

But the Indians did not have an easy start and it was China who dominated the initial exchanges.

The Indian midfield seemed a little sluggish to begin with and China, taking advantage of this, fought their way into the Indian circle. But the Indian defence, led by skipper Lazarus Barla, stood their ground.

Five minutes into the match Bimal Lakra started playing confidently, relaying some good balls upfront. One such move in the 10th minute found Inderjit Singh upfront and he passed the ball to Halappa whose tap just beat the Chinese goalkeeper to give India the lead.

India should have controlled the game and surged ahead but the Chinese counter-attacked superbly. Indian goalkeeper Devesh Chauhan was the star in the defence as he time and again kept the Chinese forwards at bay. Devesh also saved three penalty corners by charging out and taking the shots on the pad giving the defenders the space to clear the ball.

Yu Yang and Song Yi, the two Chinese forwards twice broke into the circle as the Indian defence was caught napping but on both the occasions Devesh came to the rescue.

With around six minutes to play remaining in the first half, India again re-asserted their midfield but failed to convert it into goals. Probhjot was the culprit as he failed to connect with crosses from the right flank thrice.

India went 2-0 in the 33rd minute after some smart work by Gagan Ajit Singh. The Indian centre-forward stole the ball from a Chinese in the midfield and then passed to Prabhjot whose shot hit the post and bounced back into play. Thakur, who was rushing into the circle, easily picked up the rebound and slammed home.

After change of ends, India started strongly as Gagan beat the Chinese defence but his reverse hit sailed over.

In the 44th minute, Gagan was again in the thick of action going past two defenders but as he dribbled away from goalkeeper Su Rifeng, the Chinese custodian brought him down. Halappa converted the penalty stroke for India to make it 3-0.

In the 49th, Prabhjot went into the Chinese circle and with the defence bearing down on him passed to Gagan Ajit who tapped the ball in for the fourth goal.

India earned their second penalty corner in the 52nd and Len Aiyappa’s powerful flick went in, beating the Su Rifeng.

In the 56th minute, Prabodh Tirkey joined the goal feast as he trapped a free ball in the circle to shoot home the sixth goal for India. A couple of minutes later, Thakur raced into the circle after a beautiful ball from Bimal Lakra and his powerful shot hit the goalkeepers gloves but still carried into goal to make it 7-0 for India.

Three minutes later, Gagan was again on target as his deflection from a cross from the left beat the Chinese goalkeeper yet again to complete the tally for India.

Just when it looked that India would finally go with an 8-0 margin, China scored when Song Yi deflected in a free hit from outside the circle to make it 1-8.