Asian Games 2022 : India thrash Pak 10-2 in Hockey to reach SF , India reach TT women semis beating strong China

 

Indian athletes continue to shine in Asian Games . In Hockey , India  hammered Pakistan by 10-2 in a surprisingly one sided contest while in Table Tennis the India pair won Gold by beating Wirld champions China in a sensational result .

Whatever the game, an India-Pakistan match means excitement.  It is a match of honor for the supporters of both countries.  But watching the India-Pakistan clash at the Asian Games on Saturday, it was not clear whether it was a competitive match or an exhibition match.  India was scoring one goal after another.  In the end, they scored ten goals.  Pakistan lost 10-2.  Far from the Asian Games, no hockey match between India and Pakistan had  so many goals before.  Saturday's match thus created new history.  Along with this win, India advanced to the semi-finals of the Asian Games Hockey.

 A few days ago, Pakistan came to play the Asian Champions Trophy in India.  They didn't play so bad there either.  India did not let Pakistan stand on this day as the created waves of attacks.   Captain Harmanpreet Singh alone scored four goals.  The others, when they attacked, scored goals.  Pakistan scored two goals for some time, but could not make a mark in the whole match.

 As Pakistan scored  34 goals in the competition, against India they got a taste of what the real fight is all about.  Harmanpreet Singh & Co controlled the match from the start.  One attack after another was hitting Pakistan's box.  India took a 2-0 lead in the first quarter.  India started attacking from the beginning.  Ball control was their stick.  Pakistan attacked a couple of times in the first eight minutes, but there was no danger.

India took the lead in the ninth minute.  Abhishek passed to Mandeep Singh.  Mandeep put the ball in the empty net.  In the next minute, Pakistan got a penalty corner but could not use it.  Pakistan's goalkeeper threw an Indian player into the D box.  The referee awarded a penalty.  Pakistan appealed to no avail.  Harmanpreet scored from the penalty stroke.  Neelkanth received Harmanpreet's pass in the next minute.  He passes to Mandeep.  Lalit hits outside the goal.

 At the start of the second quarter, India went ahead again.  Harmanpreet scored from the penalty corner.  After that Pakistan took control of the game for some time.  They started attacking from the right side.  But India's defense was solid .  After that, the control of the match again went to India.  Gurjant scored the fourth goal.  He scored a pass from the left side.  

 Harmanpreet completed his hat trick at the beginning of the third quarter.  This time also from the penalty stroke.  Pakistan defender Arbaaz went on to save the goal without a stick.  The referee ordered a penalty stroke.  Harmanpreet scored again.  A few moments later, India got a penalty .  Harmanpreet scored his fourth goal.

 Pakistan conceded a goal in between.  Sufyan scored from the penalty corner.  India took no time to widen the gap.  Sukhjit gave a great pass from the counter attack.  Varun scored by touching the ball on the stick.  Pakistan scored another goal before the end of the third quarter.  But again India increased the gap by scoring two goals.  Shamser Singh scored from a long ball missed by Pakistan's goalkeeper.  Pakistan's defence was also found wanting  in India's ninth goal.  Three Indian players came up.  Lalit Upadhyay scored before Pakistan's defence knew anything.  Varun Kumar scored from a penalty corner in the fourth quarter as India won 10-2.

Meanwhile even on the seventh day of the 19th Asian Games going on in China, India has seen a tremendous performance so far.  By winning the quarter-final match of the women's doubles event of table tennis, the Indian pair has secured a place in the semi-finals and secured a medal.  From the Indian side, in this event, the pair of Sutirtha and Ahkiya have made it to the semi-finals by defeating the world number-2 ranked pair Meng and Yidi of China by 11-5, 11-5, 5-11 and 11-9.

 Indian women table tennis players started the match brilliantly and took a significant lead by winning the first two sets by 11-5 and 11-5.  After this, they had to face defeat 11-5 in the third set.  The pair of Sutirtha and Ahkiya made a brilliant comeback in the fourth set and defeated the Chinese pair 11-9, ensuring a medal for the country in this event as well.

Reigning World Champion Nikhat Zareen on Friday assured India a medal in the 50kg weight category after beating Jordan's Hanan Nassar by KO in 2 minutes in a quarterfinal of the ongoing 19th Asian Games.  With this victory, Nikhat also officially sealed her place in India's Paris Olympics contingent. As for her Asian Games campaign, she will be up against Thailand's Chuthamat Raksat in the semifinal.

 India has so far officially won a total of 38 medals in the 19th Asian Games, which includes 10 gold, 14 silver and 14 bronze medals.  Apart from this, medals have been confirmed in many other events, in which it is considered certain to get at least a bronze medal.  Till now, India has won most medals in the events of shooting and rowing.

The seventh day was also very good for India in the 19th Asian Games in which the pair of Bopanna and Rutuja Bhosale won the gold medal in the tennis mixed doubles final in the morning.  At the same time, the men's squash team also registered a historic victory by defeating Pakistan in a thrilling manner in its final match and also won the gold medal.