India dominate Singapore in men's hockey Olympic qualifier

Unlike their female counterparts, Indian men meant business right from the word go in their inaugural match of the Olympic qualifiers at the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium in New Delhi on Saturday.

After watching the women draw their opening encounter against a lowly Ukraine only a few minutes back, Indian men hardly took any time to settle down against lowly Singapore. Yuvraj Walmiki may take credit for waking up the Indian forward line by wasting a certain chance in the 10th minute. But then, Gurwinder Singh Chandi opened the never-ending scoreline for India in the very next minute.

Returning to action after serving a five-match ban, Chandi went on to score two more goals in India’s 15-1 victory over young and inexperienced opponents.

Singapore looked helpless and hopeless by the end of first half as India ran up a 6-0 misery over a squad which was invited to play at the last moment following the withdrawal of USA. The match was over well before the first-half, thanks to perfect coordination among the Indian forwards.

The second half was no different except for one reason — Singapore surprised India by scoring one field goal. But all other moves were dictated by the Indian forward line. Drag-flicker Sandeep Singh looked completely out of sorts although he managed to score one. Maybe, he was told by coach Michael Nobbs not to showcase his variations in this easy outing.

By the time the clock was showing 13 more minutes to go, nine Indian players, including Walmiki, Sunil Sowmarpet Vitalacharya, Shivendra Singh, Danish Mujtaba and Sardara Singh, had entered the scorebook. India led 14-1 at that stage. Birendra Lakra was the last one to register his name in the dying seconds to make the final tally 15-1.

‘Well done India’ were the chants coming from all corners of this floodlit stadium.

Nobbs could not have asked for more. “This is a fine beginning for us but there is still a long way to go. I would not say that we played as per our plan but then we only played some 70 per cent of our ability,” said Nobbs.

Asked if he is unhappy with the penalty corner conversions, Nobbs said, “We could have done better but as I said we have not peaked as yet. There are still four games to go and we will peak at the right time.”

Star midfielder Sardara looked happy with his performance. “We can’t afford to sit back and celebrate on this big victory. We need to focus hard on the next four games. Penalty corner-conversion is one area of concern. We should do better in that area. Otherwise, I’m happy with our show today,” said a relaxed Sardara. India will take on Italy on Sunday.