Indian Hockey Team Defeated South Africa by 5-0 in the Opening Match

Indian Hockey Team begins their campaign in style with a crushing 5-0 thrashing of South Africa in their opening match of Pool-C in the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday. Mandeep Singh was the first to score the goal for India in the 10th minute, followed by Akashdeep Singh in the 12th, while Simranjeet Singh scored a goal in the 43rd and 46th minute to make a difference. Lalit Upadhyay added India’s fifth goal in the 45th minute.

While the Indian strikers were on target, the defenders further produced an excellent performance in the heart of defence to keep the opposition under control. Indian Team started with the attacking mindset, which shows the tendency and strategy of Coach Harendra Singh who had advocated the scheme before the start of the tournament, it was clearly visible on the field as the Indian players were not letting the ball slip out of their possession and was eager to score on any and every chance. In the first half of the match Indian team was leading by 2-0. Whereas in the initial stages of the third quarter, India missed a couple of chances to goal. Thereafter, Indian team made a dominating comeback again as they completely destroyed the winning hopes of South Africa by scoring two back-to-back goals in the 43rd and 45th minute of the match. It was midfielder Simranjeet Singh and forward player Lalit Upadhyay who showed quick reflexes in the field to strike the consecutive goals and make the win lock. Simranjeet looked unstoppable on the field and continued to tear apart the weak defence of the South African side scoring another goal only in the fourth quarter to make it 5-0 in India's favour. India kept on attacking the opposition's goal post till the final minute. A solid attack along with the defence and a fully controlled game helped India to mark a convincing win over South Africa in their first Group match. Simranjeet Singh was put up Man of the Match, who scored two goals for his side. Further India will play their next group stage match on December 2 against Belgium. We further wish to look an attacking game in the city and further more crackers.

By: Anuja Arora

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