India beat Sri Lanka 16-1 in Pool A at Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026
India's men's hockey team defeated Sri Lanka 16-1 at the Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium in their second Pool A match at the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 on Tuesday, recording a second straight group-stage win. The defending Asian Games champions produced an expansive attacking display that yielded goals in every quarter.
India began the competition with a 13-1 victory over Indonesia, and the win over Sri Lanka featured eight different goal scorers; Jugraj Singh and Abhishek both completed hat-tricks. The side scored freely across all four quarters to build an unassailable margin.
Mandeep Singh opened the scoring in the 5th minute after a move involving Jarmanpreet Singh, and Jugraj Singh converted a penalty corner in the 10th minute. Abhishek added India's third in the 11th minute to extend the lead in the early stages.
Harmanpreet Singh struck from a penalty corner in the 16th minute and Abhishek scored again in the 17th to make it 5-0. Jugraj added a second penalty-corner goal in the 22nd minute, while his 24th-minute effort was overturned following a video referral.
India restored a six-goal cushion in the 29th minute when Sukhjeet Singh finished a penalty-corner variation, and Dilpreet Singh scored in the 30th minute to take the score to 8-0 at half-time. The sequence of goals left Sri Lanka with a substantial deficit going into the second half.
The third quarter began with Manpreet Singh's 31st-minute strike and Vivek Sagar Prasad's backhand finish in the 36th minute; Dilpreet struck again in the 38th minute. Jugraj completed a hat-trick with a 42nd-minute penalty stroke, and Harmanpreet's second in the 45th minute took India to 13-0 at the end of the third quarter.
Abhishek completed his hat-trick in the 49th minute, before Sri Lanka's Suresh Rathnayake pulled one back in the 50th minute. Jugraj converted another penalty stroke in the 53rd minute for his fourth of the match, and Dilpreet's 55th-minute goal completed his hat-trick as India sealed a 16-1 victory; Jugraj also converted two penalty corners and a penalty stroke.
The result gives India two wins from two Pool A matches. India will next face South Korea on 24 September, with the match scheduled for 11:30 IST.