Commonwealth Games: India men's hockey team thrashes Canada 8-0; goes top in Pool B

India men’s hockey team returned to winning ways on Wednesday when they demolished Canada 8-0 in their third Pool B match of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. The big win comes after India were held 4-4 by hosts England on Tuesday. With Tuesday’s win, Manpreet Singh-led side goes top of the table with seven points; leading England on goal difference. The goals came from seven different players on the day as Harmanpreet Singh opened the floodgates in the fifth minute. Amit Rohidas (10’) then added another in the opening quarter. Two further goals came in the second quarter from Lalit Upadhyay (20’), and Gurjant Singh (27’). After half-time, Akashdeep Singh (38’), who also scored another late in the game, scored India’s fifth goal against a hapless Canda defence. The remaining three goals came at the fag end of the final quarter through captain Manpreet (56’), Mandeep Singh (58’) and Akashdeep (60’) India’s first scoring chance came in the fifth minute in the form of back-to-back penalty corners but Canada’s Balraj Panesar made a goal-line save to deny Harmanpreet from the second attempt. But Harmanpreet was not to be denied much longer as she gave India the lead two minutes later with a powerful drag-flick from another set piece. Three minutes later, defender Rohidas scored a brilliant field goal. He stormed into the circle with his silky stick work and slotted the ball home after receiving a defence splitting long ball from Varun Kumar. The Indians continued in the same vein in the second quarter and secured two quick penalty corners in the 19th minute, the second of which resulted to a goal. Lalit slapped in a loose ball off a rebound after Varun Kumar’s flick was kept away by Canadian goalkeeper Ethan McTavish to hand India a 3-0 lead. The Canadian custodian pulled off another fine save in the 24th minute to keep out Abhishek’s reverse shot from the top of the circle. McTavish made another fine save to deny Jugraj Singh from another penalty corner. Seconds later, a diving Gurjant deflected in Hardik Singh’s pass from the left flank to extend India’s lead. Canada got a penalty corner in the 28th minute but failed to make use of it as India went into the halfway break with a comfortable 4-0 lead. The Indians kept up the pressure after the change of ends and mounted attacks after attacks on the Canadian citadel. In the 38th minute, Akashdeep scored with a slap shot after being set up by a fine one-touch play by skipper Manpreet Singh and Nilkanata Singh. In the fourth and final quarter, McTavish made a double save from a penalty corner to deny Mandeep and Vivek Sagar Prasad. Canada secured a penalty corner soon after but India defended the chance. In the final six minutes of the match, India fired three more goals which came from the sticks of Harmanpreet, Mandeep and Akashdeep With inputs from PTI