India eves maul minnows Thailand 16-0 in Asia Cup

Hong Kong, Sept 3 (UNI) Riding on striker Surinder Kaur's five goals, India mauled minnows Thailand 16-0 in their second Pool A league match in the sixth Women's Asia Cup hockey tournament here today.

Mamta Kharab chipped in three while Rita Rani, Jasjeet Kaur and Saba Anjum contributed two goals apiece. Suman Bala and Rajwinder Kaur sounded the board once each.

For Surinder, her goal tally swelled to nine as she had scored four in a row in India's 6-0 thrashing of Malaysia yesterday.

The defending champions led 5-0 in the interval and raised the momentum in the second half to show their class and slam 11 more goals.

The 16-0 win bettered China's 15-0 wallopping of Singapore yesterday as tournament's highest victory margin so far.

India showed impressive stick work against the Thais and rather than using raw power in their shots at the Thai goal, they rather showed deft touches both in open play and in taking penalty corners.

Several Indian goals came from very well taken reverse stick flicks and hits.

Both Surinder and Ritu Rani's reverse stick prowess was displayed with beautifully taken goals.

Similarly, India's four converted penalty corners did not come from powerful hits but rather from very clever passing inside the Thai circle.

India's next match is against Singapore on Wednesday.

UNI