Australia dominate India in Tokyo Olympics hockey, win pool match 7-1
Dilpreet Singh was the lone scorer for India in the Pool A match.
The Indian men’s hockey team was beaten 7-1 by the world No. 1 Australia in their Pool A match at the Oi Hockey Stadium on Sunday.
Dilpreet Singh’s goal was the only silver lining for the Indian hockey team as Daniel Beale, Jeremy Hayward, Flynn Ogilvie, Joshua Beltz, Blake Govers (2) and Tim Brand hit the board for Australia.
Coached by Colin Batch, the Australian side was quick to take possession as both teams tested each other’s defence looking for a breakthrough.
India had their first opening, in the eighth minute, but failed to convert the penalty corner. Australia retaliated with a counter but were unable to convert.
Two minutes later, Australia’s Jake Whetton’s pass from the right flank breached the Indian defence and a soft touch by Daniel Beale gave Australia a 1-0 lead.
In the dying minutes of the first quarter, India’s Dilpreet Singh launched an attack but was unsuccessful. Soon enough, India earned their second penalty corner. But, Australian Andrew Oglivie’s stick stopped Indian penalty corner specialist Rupinder Pal Singh’s attempt to equalise.
The Kookaburras, as the Australian team is famously called, continued to attack in the second quarter with two back-to-back penalty corners. Penalty corner specialist Jeremy Hayward ensured he got it right the second time to give Australia a 2-0 lead.
The Australian forwards continued to pierce through the Indian defence with two successive field goals in the 23rd minute and 26th minute. Andrew Ogilvie and Joshua Beltz extended the lead to 4-0 at the end of the second quarter.
India, coached by Graham Reid, looked helpless and had no answers to the Australian attack.
The third quarter, however, brought some hope early on when India was awarded three penalty corners but Rupinder looked out of form, missing all three attempts.
Almost immediately, a long pass by Rupinder connected with Dilpreet Singh’s stick in the heart of the Aussie defence. Dilpreet was quick to outsmart the Aussie goalkeeper Andrew Charter to get India’s only goal in the 34th minute.
India then had a successful video referral earning them a penalty but the scoreline remained unchanged. Nothing seemed to work for India as they failed to convert all five penalty corners. A penalty stroke worsened India’s chances to reduce the goal margin. Blake Govers got past Indian goalkeeper PR Sreejesh to go up 5-1.
The Australians extended their score to 6-1 when Blake Govers’ flick during a penalty was unintentionally knocked by Sreejesh into his own net in the 42nd minute.
Despite the sizable lead, the Australian players continued to attack. Tim Brand scored the final goal of the match after dribbling past PR Sreejesh and defender Birendra Lakra to put Australia 7-1 up in the 51st minute.
The Indian men’s hockey team will take on Spain next on Tuesday. New Zealand, Argentina and Japan are the other teams in Pool A.