In their second encounter- against Sri Lanka- in the 12th South Asian Games, the Indian Women’s hockey team continued their winning run by defeating Sri Lanka 12-1 in the match.
India started on an attacking note and scored early in the 4th minute through a field goal from Rani, giving the hosts a 1-0 lead in the match. The Indian eves kept pressing hard, pushing into the opponents circle often.
India’s complete dominance
Their circle penetration was soon rewarded with a penalty corner, which was duly converted by Jaspreet Kaur in the 8th minute giving India a 2-0 lead. The Sri Lankan defence seemed helpless against the Indian attack, as the Indians extended their lead in the game through four consecutive field goals thereafter in the 13th, 14th, 19th and 27th minute through Sonika, Soundarya Yendala (14th and 27th) and Jyoti Gupta respectively.
The Indian eves added on to the damage with another penalty conversion in the 32nd minute by Jaspreet Kaur taking the score to 7-0 in their favour at the end of the first half.
The second half began with the Sri Lankan girls trying hard to stop the Indian forwards from penetrating into their circle, but their efforts failed as Jaspreet Kaur struck a field goal in the 38th minute and followed it up with a penalty stroke conversion in the 42nd minute taking the Indian goal tally to 9 goals in the match.
Vice-Captain Deepika added to the Sri Lankan woes scoring another field goal in the 47th minute taking the score to 10-0 in India’s favour. Jaspreet Kaur was in unstoppable form today as she scored her fifth goal of the day in the 57th minute through a penalty corner, taking the scoreboard to 11-0 in India’s favour.
The Sri Lankans were trying hard to keep possession of the ball and were lucky enough to get a solitary field goal to their kitty through PACD Premasiri in the 58th minute. The Indian girls finished the match with another penalty corner conversion from Gurjit Kaur in the 65th minute.
The match came to an end with India winning the match 12-1 against Sri Lanka. India now lead the points table with six points to their kitty and will take on the winner from tomorrow’s round-robin match between Sri Lanka and Nepal in the gold medal clash on 11th February 2016.
