Hockey Asian Champions Trophy: Five-star Deepika leads India to big win
Young striker Deepika slammed five goals as defending champions India thrashed minnows Thailand 13-0 to virtually assure a semifinal berth at the Women’s Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament.
It was a completely one-sided match as the Indians found the net at will, with Thailand failing to take a single shot at the opposition goal. Deepika (3rd, 19th, 43rd 45th, 45th minutes) found the net five times, while Preeti Dubey (9th, 40th), Lalremsiami (12, 56th) and Manisha Chauhan (55th, 58th) scored a brace each. Beauty Dung Dung (30th) and Navneet Kaur (53rd) were the other goal getters for India who registered their third consecutive win in the round-robin league stage.
India had earlier defeated Malaysia 4-0 before eking out a 3-2 win over South Korea. The Indians will next play Olympics silver medallists China on Saturday. India are now in the second spot in the standings with nine points, the same as China who are on the top on the basis of a better goal difference.
It was complete domination from start to finish as India toyed with the Thai defence, which looked clueless against the home team’s relentless attacks. The Indians also improved on the penalty corner front, converting five out of 12 PCs they secured in the match.
