Indian men's hockey team continue unbeaten run in Asian Champions Trophy, thrash Malaysia 8-1 in Hulunbuir, China
The Indian men's hockey team defeated Malaysia 8-1 to register their third straight win at the Asian Champions Trophy at Hulunbuir in China on Wednesday (September 11).
Amir Ali came into the Indian side in the place of Sanjay who will miss the rest of the tournament on account of injury even as Crag Fulton's chargers unleashed a barrage of attacks on a hapless Malaysian unit.
Raj Kumar Pal, Araijeet Singh Hundal and Uttam Singh scored from open play while Jugraj Singh and Harmanpreet Singh executed their drag-flicks to perfection. India now have nine points from three games with matches on hand against Korea and Pakistan, who are placed second with five points.
Raj Kumar Pal got into the act early with a marvellous dribbling effort, getting past four Malaysian defenders before tapping one past goalkeeper Mat Deris Zaimi in the third minute of the Asian Champions Trophy game.
Araijeet Singh Hundal came up with a brilliant goal from open play when he lobbed the ball past Zaimi from an acute angle in the sixth minute. The Indians earned their first penalty corner in the seventh minute and Jugraj Singh was on hand to help the Indians veer off to a 3-0 lead.
Young Gurjot Singh did well to create India's sixth penalty corner before earning a couple more with Faiz Jali and Nik Aiman Rozemi taking nasty falls while attempting to stop Harmanpreet Singh's drag flicks in the second quarter.
The Indian captain finally came with a lethal flick to score India's fourth goal in the 22nd minute.
Raj Kumar Pal scored his second goal of the match in the 25th minute, beating the Malaysian goalkeeper with a relatively weak effort after Zaimi managed to stop Uttam Singh's shot but failed to prevent a rebound.
A dreadful clearance by goalkeeper Adrian Albert resulted in Raj Kumar Pal scoring his third goal of the match in the 33rd minute. Faiz Jali found an unmarked Anuar Akhimullah in the Indian circle a minute later, allowing the Malaysians to pull one back.
Araijeet Singh Hundal scored his second goal from close range, beating goalkeeper Albert all ends up in the 39th minute.
Vivek Sagar managed to direct the ball to Uttam Singh after the Malaysians had run down Jugraj Singh's drag-flick. The former captain of the Indian junior side got onto the scoring sheet five minutes before the end of the third quarter to score India's eighth goal.
Why the big Asian Champions Trophy win against Malaysia reinforces India's continental supremacy
India's big win against Malaysia in the Asian Champions Trophy helps to reinforce the continental supremacy of the four-time champions in more ways than one.
Malaysia have been the one Asian team that has challenged India's dominance on the big stage. A stunning shootout win for Malaysia in the semifinals of the 2018 Asian Games meant that the Indians had to settle for bronze in Jakarta.
Malaysia also finished ahead of India at the 2022 Asia Cup, where the team won silver while the Indians had to settle for bronze.
Although the Indians did prevail by a narrow 4-3 margin in the final of the Asian Champions Trophy last year, the 8-1 win in Hulunbuir will do a world of good to India's confidence against the second-ranked team in Asia (FIH ranking 13th).