India rout Sri Lanka 16-1 in Asian Games Pool A to register second straight win

India's men's hockey team defeated Sri Lanka 16-1 in their second Pool A match at the Asian Games on Tuesday. Jugraj Singh scored four times while Abhishek and Dilpreet Singh each finished with hat-tricks.

The victory gave India two wins from two after a 13-1 opening result against Indonesia. Jugraj — described in the match report as India's dragflick specialist — and the two hat-trick scorers led a large group of contributors that also included Harmanpreet Singh, Mandeep Singh, Sukhjeet Singh, Manpreet Singh and Vivek Sagar Prasad.

India broke the deadlock inside five minutes when Mandeep finished off an assist from Abhishek. Jugraj then doubled the lead in the 10th minute with a powerful dragflick from a penalty corner and Abhishek followed with a well-worked field goal a minute later. Harmanpreet converted a penalty corner in the 16th minute and Abhishek added his second in the 17th to make it 5-0.

Jugraj converted another penalty corner in the 22nd minute to push the score to 6-0, and Sukhjeet added India's seventh in the 29th minute after receiving a pass from vice-captain Hardik Singh. Dilpreet made it 8-0 before the interval with a clever deflection off a Mandeep effort.

After the break Manpreet scored a rare field goal in the 31st minute and Vivek Sagar Prasad added a reverse-shot strike five minutes later. Dilpreet netted his second in the 38th minute following a neat one-two with Sukhjeet, and Jugraj completed a first-half hat-trick by converting a penalty stroke in the 42nd minute. Harmanpreet then slotted another penalty corner in the 45th to take India to 13-0.

Abhishek completed his hat-trick with a backhand finish in the 49th minute, but Sri Lanka responded a minute later when Suresh Rathnayake scored in the 50th — the report noted it was Sri Lanka's first-ever goal against India in Asian Games history. Jugraj restored the 13-goal margin with his fourth from the spot in the 53rd minute and Dilpreet completed his treble in the 55th after receiving a pass from Mandeep.

India will next face South Korea on Thursday. That match is their upcoming Pool A fixture at the Asian Games.