Kakamilgahara (Japan): Young striker Deepika Sehrawat slammed in a record-shattering eight goals as the Indian women’s hockey team hammered lowly Uzbekistan 19-0 in its opening Pool B match to make a flying start at the Asian Games Sunday.
It was expected to be a one-sided affair and it turned out exactly that way as Uzbekistan’s defence had no answer to India’s relentless attacks.
The gulf between the two sides was evident throughout and it rained goals from India with the 22-year-old Deepika leading the way by striking in the 8th, 22nd, 25th, 33rd, 36th, 38th, 41st, 54th minute.
This was the best performance by an Indian woman player in a single Asian Games match. The rising drag-flick specialist has been in good form since coming back from injuries earlier this year.
Mid-fielder Ishika Chaudhary (11th, 42nd, 54th), Lalremsiami (7th), Baljeet Kaur (12th), Neha (18th), Navneet Kaur (23rd, 45th), Lalthantluangi (43rd, 51st), and Sakshi Rana (43rd) were the other goal-getters in the lop-sided contest.
India will play Indonesia in their next match Monday.
India, who are the second highest-ranked side in the competition, toyed with the Uzbek defence to pump in as many as eight goals in the first half.
It all began when Lalremsiami scored a field goal from close range before doubling the lead a minute later.
Ishika then found the net with a brilliant first-time finish from the left of the circle after being played in by Sunelita Toppo.
A minute later, Baljeet made it 4-0 before Neha registered her name on the score-sheet with another field goal.
Deepika then scored her second with a powerful drag-flick to the bottom right corner from a penalty corner to make the score-line 6-0.
Navneet too put herself on the score sheet with a field goal before Deepika converted another penalty corner to hand India a comfortable 8-0 lead in the first half.
The scenario went from bad to worse for Uzbekistan as the Indians pumped in as many as 11 goals in the last two quarters.
It was a milestone match for veteran goalkeeper Savita Punia, who made her 320th international appearance, joining Vandana Katariya as the joint most capped Indian woman hockey player.
However, she hardly came into play as the Uzbeks struggled to keep possession of the ball.
Deepika said she doesn’t have any individual goal, and what matters to her is guiding the team to wins.
“It’s not been that much a tough one. No matter what the opponent is, we are just focusing on ourselves. What we can do, changes we can do better in the next quarters, next matches,” she said of the match.
“Before the match, we talked about penalty corners, like where we finish and which angle we take. It’s all thanks to my team because they are making penalty corners, so I was there to score.”
The forward said the main objective of the team is to win gold here and qualify directly for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
“Our main target is to win gold but for now it’s focusing on match-to-match. I want to make India proud of my team.”