Hockey: Australia smash 7 past India

Australia crushed India 7-1 in a dominating performance in the second group game of the Men’s hockey event at the Olympics in Tokyo.

Some intelligent work from Daniel Beale resulted in Australia’s first goal in the 9th minute. Until the end of the quarter, the match was evenly poised but the Aussies came out all guns blazing scoring thrice in a 6-minute span to have a comfortable 4-0 lead at halftime. 

Dilpreet Singh reduced the deficit early in the third quarter but Aussies kept on entering our box, creating chances at ease. But Australia scored twice in 2 minutes to take a 5-1 lead going to the final quarter. 

In the final quarter, the island nation scored twice to end the match 7-1.

It was a listless and energyless performance from India. Our men had no answers to Australia’s offensive prowess and were made to look like school kids.

India has been chasing the elusive hockey medal for so long now and performances like these won’t take the team anywhere. The team needs to regroup, rethink and rework to come out with better performances in the upcoming games as a qualification to the next stage is still very much in our hands.

Score: Australia 7(D Beale 10, JT Hayward 21, F Ogilvie 23, J Beltz 26, B Govers 40, 42, T Brand 51)-1 India (Dilpreet Singh 34)