Rampant India put four past Canada

India began their campaign at the Junior Hockey World Cup with a thumping 4-0 win over Canada in Pool ‘D’ at the Major Dhyanchand Stadium on a frosty Thursday evening.

With the persistent fog being a major concern, the final game of the day was pushed to a 6:45 pm from the scheduled 7:00 pm start. This meant the teams could play the whole of 70 minutes under good visibility.

Though they were a bit nervy in the beginning, Harjeet Singh and his boys slowly got into the groove to slam four goals past a hapless Canadian defence. Mandeep Singh (35th minute), Harmanpreet Singh (46th minute), Varun Kumar (60th minute) and Ajit Pandey (66th minute) were on the score sheet for the hosts.

Struggling to break a somewhat resolute Canadian defence in the initial period, the Indians had to wait till the last minute of the opening half to sound the board. Put in possession by Gurjant Singh, Parvinder Singh did well to dodge his man and fire the ball towards the target. His hit was kept out by the Canadian ’keeper Iqwuinder Gill but the custodian had no answer when Mandeep pounced on the rebound to slot in the opener.

Coming out as a rejuvenated side in the second half, the Indians ticked all the boxes as they routed their opponents with ease.

Harmanpreet might have had a rare quiet day with his drag flicks, but the Punjab defender was up to the task when India won a penalty stroke after his flick hit a Canadian defender on the line during a short corner. The 20-year-old wrong-footed the ’keeper to slot in his side’s second in a rather calm fashion.

Joining the party next was Varun Kumar who was determined to find the back of the net with his drag flicks. The Ronaldo fan did so on the hour mark as he blasted one into the top corner of the Canadian goal and capped off his night celebrating just like his idol.

The Indians continued to bombard the Canadian goal with waves of attacks. Minutes before the final hooter, Manpreet Junior, beating three defenders on the run, set up Pandey and the latter obliged with a routine tap-in.

Earlier in the day, defending champions Germany got their campaign off to a winning start as they beat Spain 2-1. Anton Boeckel handed Germany the lead in the 25th minute while Manual Fabregas restored parity for the Spaniards through a short corner in the 48th minute. Timm Herzbruch ensured that the Germans took maximum points from the tie as he restored their lead in the 63rd minute.

Results: Pool C: New Zealand: 1 (Oliver Logan 55th) bt Japan: 0; Germany: 2 (Anton Boeckel 25th, Timm Herzbruch 63rd) bt Spain: 1 (Manual Fabregas 48th). Pool D: England: 4 (Edward Horler 5th, 9th, Peter Scott 11th, Jonathan Griffiths 62nd) bt South Africa: 2 (Mathew de Sousa 13th, Ryan Crowe 56th); India: 4 (Mandeep Singh 35th, Harmanpreet Singh 46th, Varun Kumar 60th, Ajit Pandey 66th) bt Cananda: 0.

Today’s action: Argentina vs Austria (10:00 AM), Belgium vs Egypt (12:00 PM), Spain vs Japan (2:00 PM), New Zealand vs Germany (4:00 PM), Netherlands vs Malaysia (6:00 PM).

(All matches live on Star Network).