Tokyo 2020: Listless India take 1-7 hammering from Australia in men’s hockey

The Indian men’s hockey team was pummelled 1-7 by world number one Australia in their second pool A match of the Olympic Games here on Sunday, a morale-shattering loss that exposed every possible chink in the side’s armour.

The mighty Kookaburras simply toyed with the Indian defence after the first quarter and scored goals at will to comfortably secure their second consecutive win in the competition. For India, it was their biggest loss since Australian Graham Reid took charge of the team as coach in April 2019.(TOKYO OLYMPICS 2020 COVERAGE)

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Australia looked dominant and were in complete control from the onset, scoring goals through Daniel Beale (10th minute), Joshua Beltz (26th), Andrew Flynn Ogilvie (23rd), Jeremy Hayward (21st), Blake Govers (40th, 42nd) and Tim Brand (51st) to secure the easy win.

India’s lone goal came from the stick of Dilpreet Singh in the 34th minute.

India had earlier defeated New Zealand 3-2 in their opening fixture on Saturday.

The Manpreet Singh-led side will next play Spain on Tuesday

The eight-time former champions looked completely off colour from the first whistle and the team’s backline was put under relentless pressure by the Australians.

In the first quarter, the Indians put up a semblance of fight but in the next 15 minutes, it was all Kookaburras, pumping goals at will.

However, it was India who had the first chance at the goal, earning a penalty corner in the eighth minute, but Harmanpreet Singh failed to execute from the set-piece.

Two minutes later, Australia surged ahead when Beale deflected in Jacob Whetton’s strike after a poor penalty corner execution.

A minute later, Dilpreet missed a golden chance from close range to level the scores.

India custodian PR Sreejesh then made a double save to keep the Australians at bay.

India were unlucky not to have equalized just seconds from the first quarter when Rupinder Pal Singh’s low flick from their second penalty corner was brilliantly saved at the goalline by Andrew Flynn Ogilvie.

But the second quarter completely belonged to Australia as they scored three goals in a span of five minutes to take the game away from their opponents.

First Hayward found the net from Australia’s third penalty corner and then Ogilivie slammed home from the top right corner of the circle with a fierce hit past Sreejesh in front of the Indian goal.

If that was not enough, Beltz added to India’s misery with a fourth goal, four minutes before halftime with a reverse hit.

The Indians showed some spark after the change of ends and attacked the Australian goal in numbers. In the process they secured three back-to-back penalty corners but wasted all of them.

Four minutes into the third quarter, Dilpreet infused some life into the game by pulling one back for India, beautifully deflecting in Rupinder’s defence splitting pass from the mid-field.

India wasted another penalty corner in the 40th minute when Mandeep Singh failed to deflect in Amit Rohidas’ lay-off.

But that was all India could manage as Australia slowly tightened their defence and withstood the pressure.

The Kookaburras managed to turn the tide and scored three more goals to hand India a humiliating loss.

Govers scored two goals in quick succession — first from the spot and then from a penalty corner — before Tim Brand rounded off the tally by finding the net from a tight angle nine minutes from the hooter.