Asian Games 2018: India register thumping 21-0 win over Kazakhstan

India's Gurjit Kaur (second from left) celebrates a goal against Kazakhstan with teammates in Jakarta yesterday. Pic/AFP

The Indian women's hockey team fell short of registering their highest victory margin in the Asian Games by one goal yesterday, during their 21-0 win over Kazakhstan at the GBK Sports Complex here yesterday. Incidentally, it is India who hold the record for the highest victory margin in the quadrennial event, having beaten Hong Kong 22-0 at the 1982 edition in New Delhi.

Skipper unaware of record
Yesterday, one would have expected the Indian eves to go for the record once they reached the 20-goal mark with a good six minutes of play still left in the fourth quarter. Skipper Rani Rampal later admitted that she had no idea about the record. "When I was sitting on the bench, I was wondering what could the highest victory margin be, but I had no one to check with. I didn't know that 22-0 is an Asian Games record otherwise I would have surely made the girls go for one or even two more goals," Rani, who stayed out of the match due to a thigh injury, told mid-day after the thumping win yesterday.

Not one to be easily disappointed and with her tongue firmly in cheek, the stylish forward said that there's always another time. "Maybe we could try for the record in our last league game against Thailand [August 27]," she said.

Gurjit Kaur leads the charts
Gurjit Kaur led the scoring charts for India yesterday with four goals, with Vandana Kataria, Lalremsiami and Navneet Kaur scoring three each and Lilima Minz and Navjit Kaur scoring a brace each. Deep Grace Ekka, Udita, Monika and Neha Goyal completed the rout with once goal each.

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