Kakamigahara: India women continued their stellar performances in the Asian Games as they steamrolled Indonesia by 17-1 in their Pool B outing at the Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium here on Monday.
Forwards Deepika, Rutuja Pisal, and Navneet Kaur scored hat tricks as the Women in Blue registered their second straight win in the tournament after thrashing Uzbekistan 19-0 in their Pool B opener on Sunday.
Salima Tete’s Indian team was at its best yet again, with strikes coming left, right and centre as they punished the Indonesian side. The 2023 Hangzhou Games bronze medallists, India, fired four goals in the first quarter, before netting five in the second to keep a 9-0 lead at the end of the first half.
They began in the same vein in the third quarter, scoring another five goals but conceding one to lead 14-1, then netted three more in the final 15 minutes to bag a thumping 17-1 win. They keep their dominance in Pool B intact with six points from two matches and a goal difference of 35.
The game also marked a historic milestone for former captain Savita, who won her 321st senior international cap, now the most by an Indian women’s player, ahead of Vandana Katariya’s 320.
The Women in Blue began attacking in the game, earning several penalty corners in the first few minutes before Deepika converted one in the eighth minute to send India 1-0 up. Sunelita Toppo then found the back of the net three minutes later in the 11th before Lalremsiami converted another PC in the 13th. Ruturaj Pisal scored the first of her three goals in the final minute of the quarter, the second field goal for the Women in Blue.
The second quarter began in the same fashion, with Lalremsiami firing one from the field in the 16th minute of the match, and Navneet’s PC was later saved. Rutuja fired another in the 20th minute to give the 2023 bronze winners a 6-0 lead, which was extended to 7-0 with Sakshi Rana’s on-field goal in the 25th minute.
The lop-sided affair continued to give India more opportunities, but a Deepika shot was saved before she fired one from another set-piece. Lalremsiami looked for her hat-trick but was denied in the final minute of the second quarter as Sunelita sounded the board with a PC with 10 seconds remaining before halftime as India went up 9-0.
Indonesia finally had their opportunities in the third quarter, earning a couple of penalty corners. Salma Maulani’s two shots were saved before Innes Adiyita fired one to open Indonesia’s account.
However, the fight was limited to a minute only as India again ramped up the pressure and Salima scored one in the 34th minute. There were a couple of green card suspensions for India, with defender Ishika Chaudhary and Rutuja sent off for two minutes each.
This did not discourage the Women in Blue from maintaining the pressure, as Navneet, attacker Ishika, Rutuja, and Deepika scored to give India a 14-1 lead after the third quarter.
The fourth quarter went in the same vein as India kept pressing and found three more goals from Navneet and Sakshi, with the former scoring a brace in the quarter and completing her hat-trick along with Rutuja and Deepika.
India will now face Thailand in their third Pool outing on Wednesday as they hope for more such strong performances at the Asiad, where they are challenging for the gold.
(IANS)
