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The Indian Junior men's hockey team continued their dominant performance at the Men's Junior Asia Cup as they registered an emphatic 16-0 victory over Chinese Taipei in their pool A match here in Muscat on Saturday.
Dilraj Singh (17', 40', 45', 57') starred in the match with four scintillating goals while the Indian defence held sway with goalies Bikramjit Singh and Prince Deep Singh ensuring a clean slate. Riding on their 3-2 win against a tough opponent like Japan in their previous pool A match, India began with early attack that fetched positive outcome. In the 7th minute of the match, the team's forwards secured a Penalty Corner (PC) which was finely struck by Yogember Rawat. The early 1-0 lead gave India the right momentum for a high-scoring game. Though there were no more goals in the first quarter, India Colts showed aggression in the second quarter scoring as many as four goals. It was mercurial forward Dilraj Singh, instrumental in India's performance in the recent Sultan of Johor Cup, who was the cynosure of the team's attack against Chinese Taipei. He scored the team's second goal in the 17th minute. Sourabh Anand Kushwaha (20', 28') scored twice in this quarter while Rosan Kujur (23') too added to the team's 5-0 lead by half-time. India continued to demolish the Chinese Taipei's defence with back-to-back goals in the third quarter. They played with pace and relied on short passes to create space in the circle. They pumped a goal just a minute into the third quarter through Talem Priyobarta's PC. Rosan Kujur scored his second goal in the 32nd minute taking India's lead to a formidable 7-0. Arshdeep Singh arrived at the party in the 37th minute with a PC goal which was followed by a penalty stroke in the 39th minute by Sharda Nand Tiwari. This took India's lead to 9-0. The team scored four more goals in this quarter through Dilraj Singh (40', 45'), and Kujur (42') both of whom completed a hat-trick of goals. Arshdeep too added to the scoresheet in the 44th minute giving India a 13-0 lead before entering the last quarter of the match. The remaining 15 minutes were only a formality with the strikers scoring three more goals taking India's scoreline to an impressive 16-0. Stylish forward Araijeet Singh Hundal entered his name on the score sheet in the 54th minute through a field goal while Dilraj scored his fourth individual goal in the 57th minute while Sourabh Anand too completed his hat-trick with a 58th-minute field goal. This high-scoring win ensured India remained on top of the points table with nine points in Pool A. (ANI)
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