Indian Hockey Team Thrash Hong Kong 26-0, Break 86-Yr-Old Record
Defending champions defeated Hong Kong 26-0 to register their second straight win in the 2018 Asian Games.
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- Indian men’s hockey team defeat Hong Kong 26-0 in their second pool match at the 2018 Asian Games.
- The defending champions record their biggest ever win in international hockey, bettering a 86-year-old record..
- India next play Japan on Friday, 24 August.
Another massive win for the Indian men’s hockey team at the 18th Asian Games! The defending champions defeated Hong Kong 26-0 in their second Pool A match, breaking an 86-year-old record to register the biggest victory margin in Indian history! The previous best was 24-1 against USA.
The record for biggest win in international hockey remains with New Zealand, who beat Samoa 36-1 in 1994.
Four Indian players – Akashdeep, Rupinder, Harmanpreet and Lalit – scored hat-tricks in the match. A total of 14 players managed to net the ball. The other players being Manpreet Singh, Varun Kumar, SV Sunil, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Mandeep Singh, Amit Rohidas, Dilpreet Singh, Chinglensana Singh, Simranjeet Singh and Surender Kumar.
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It was always expected to be a lop-sided affair between world no 5 India and world no 45 Hong Kong China. But such was India’s dominance that the defending champions took its goalkeeper off the field with seven minutes to go.
India did not show any mercy to their opponents, scoring four goals in the first five minutes of the match. They ended the first quarter with a comprehensive six-goal lead and made it 14-0 after adding eight in the second quarter.
The play was restricted to Hong Kong China's half and Indian captain PR Sreejesh, guarding the goal post, was not challenged even once.
If goalkeeper Michael Chung had not made a few good saves in the third quarter, the scoreline could have been even more worse for Hong Kong China.
The PR Sreejesh-led team scored four goals in the third quarter and netted a total of 8 goals in the final 15 minutes to register their second straight win in the group stage
Just about two minutes into the final quarter, and Dilpreet Singh scored India’s 19th goal. Chinglensana Singh took that lead to 20-0 in the 50th minute.
Harmanpreet Singh converted two penalty corners in successive minutes to take extend India's lead to 22 in the 52nd minute.
Simranjeet, Lalit and Harman scored three field goals as India looked to finish the game at 25-0. But Rupinder Pal Singh scored a goal in the dying minutes as India finished the match with 26 goals while their opponents did not manage to net even a single goal.
While Sreejesh guarded the post in the first half, Krishan Bahadaur Pathak did the duty in the second.
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