Asian Champions Trophy hockey: India beat Malaysia 8-1

Hyderabad: The Indian men’s hockey team entered the semifinals of the ongoing Asian Champions Trophy after steamrolling past Malaysia in their third league match at Hulunbuir in China on Wednesday.

India scored eight goals and conceded only one to register a big 8-1 win.

Raj Kumar Pal scored a hattrick while Araijeet Singh Hundal scored a brace. Jugraj Singh, Harmanpreet Singh and Uttam Singh scored one goal each for India.

Akhimullah Anuar was the lone goal scorer for Malaysia.

Raj Kumar Pal started the goalfest when he scored in the third minute while Araijeet Singh doubled India’s lead in the sixth minute. Jugraj Singh soon made it 3-0 in the next minute as the Indian aggression showed.

Captain Harmanpreet Singh made it 4-0 by the 22nd minute while Raj Kumar Pal’s brace meant India went into the break with a handy 5-0 lead.

Raj Kumar Pal soon scored his hat-trick after the break, in the 33rd minute, as India made it 6-0. Akhimullah Anuar reduced the arrears by one when he found the back of the net in the 34th minute and the Indian defenders made sure that was the only time the Malaysian strikers were given some space and time to celebrate.

Araijeet Singh made it 7-1 in the 39th minute while Uttam Singh’s strike in the 40th minute sealed the deal for India.

With nine goals in the first 40 minutes of the game setting a tempo, it was hard to see the last 20 minutes of the game progress without any goals.

India are currently the number one team in the ongoing Asian Champions Trophy with nine points from three matches.

The Asian Champions Trophy is a six-team tournament. The tournament is being played in a round-robin format and the top four, out of the six, will advance to the semi-finals.

The two semifinals will be played on September 16 with the final slated to be held on September 17.

India are the defending champions of the Asian Champions Trophy. China, Japan, Korea, Pakistan and Malaysia make the six teams. India have won the Asian Champions Trophy a record four times and are looking good to bring home a fifth trophy.

India will play Korea on September 12 and will take on Pakistan in their last league match on September 14.