New Delhi: India defeated Italy 8-1 in their second match of the Olympic Qualifiers played at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, New Delhi. The match was played between the hosts who scored 15 goals and Italy who conceded 9 goals in their previous match.
In the first half the hosts, continued where they left off in the previous match. India’s first PC came in the 3rd minute from an attacking play by SV Sunil. Sandeep converted the short corner and scored the opening goal with a clean shot that went past the diving goal keeper.
Sardar Singh and Sandeep Singh took control of the game and invented all the moves. Shivendra Singh got the opportunity soon after from a brilliant pass from SV Sunil, but he missed the chance and hit it straight to the goalkeeper.
Tushar Khandker’s run into the opponent’s half resulted in India gettings its second short corner in the 12th minute and this time it was the turn of VR Raghunath to take the shot as the veteran drag-flicker was not on the field. Raghu too struck the ball with immense power and defeated the goalkeeper and extended India’s lead.
Italy came back after conceding the early lead to get their first penalty corner and converted that from a strike from Alessandro Nanni in the 17th minute.
India regained the control and got their third penalty corner in just 3 minutes after that which was converted into goal by Sandeep Singh as the ball flew past goal keeper’s left ear.
Sandeep got to his hat-trick in 24 minutes into the game when he got the opportunity with the 4th penalty corner. At India leading 4-1, Sunil got into the act and scored his opening goal in the 29th minute as he got ample opportunity to line up and score the 5th goal for the home side. Last match’s hero Gurwinder Singh Chandi got his first goal in the 32nd minute. The first half ended with India leading at 6-1.
India would have been very happy with their performance in the first half as they converted all the penalty corners that they got unlike in the previous match where they missed 5 opportunities.
Second half saw India dominating the ball possession yet again. With just two minutes into the second half Sunil scored his 2nd and team’s 7th goal as the ball whistled past the diving goal keeper.
Shivendra missed two opportunities in the 51 minutes but he missed. But, in the next minute his shot deflected from the Canadians goal keeper’s leg and went past the line to give India its 8th.
India got their 5th penalty corner in the 63rd minute. Sandeep took the shot and hit the goal keeper and the ball flew past the post.
The match ended at the score of 8-1 in the favor of India and India marched along in the qualifiers which may lead them to London.
By Gaurav Jha
Indian Sports News
