Gifu, Japan: Deepika Sehrawat produced a stunning nine-goal performance as India demolished Thailand 20-1 in their Pool B women’s hockey match at the 20th Asian Games on Wednesday, completing a hat-trick of wins in the tournament.
The drag-flick specialist converted nine penalty corners, while Navneet Kaur scored four goals and Rituja Dadaso Pisal completed a hat-trick. Lalremsiami, Sakshi Rana, Neha Goyal and captain Salima Tete also found the net as seven different Indian players scored.
Sehrawat opened the scoring in the second minute from India’s first penalty corner. Navneet doubled the lead two minutes later before Sehrawat struck twice in quick succession in the eighth and ninth minutes to complete her hat-trick. Rituja then scored twice in the 10th and 11th minutes to give India a 6-0 lead at the end of the opening quarter.
India continued its relentless attack in the second quarter, with Neha, Sehrawat, Lalremsiami, Navneet and Sakshi adding goals to make it 11-0 at half-time.
Sehrawat and Navneet completed their respective scoring milestones in the third quarter, while Salima also scored as India moved to 16-0.
Rituja completed her hat-trick early in the final quarter before Sehrawat scored twice more and Navneet added her fourth to make it 19-0. Thailand’s Supansa Samanoso scored a consolation goal from a penalty corner with three minutes remaining, but Sehrawat responded almost immediately with her ninth goal to complete India’s 20-1 victory.
Sehrawat has now scored 20 goals in the tournament, including eight against Uzbekistan and three against Indonesia. She has completed a hat-trick in each of India’s three matches.
India began its campaign with a 19-0 win over Uzbekistan before defeating Indonesia 17-1. The team has now scored 56 goals while conceding only two.
India’s next challenge comes against hosts Japan on Friday, with the team looking to maintain its unbeaten run and finish top of Pool B to secure a place in the semi-finals.
