India Continue Their Winning Run ; Defeat Sri Lanka 12-1

Guwahati : In their second encounter against Sri Lanka in the 12^th South Asian Games, the Indian Women’s hockey team continued their winning run defeating Sri Lanka 12-1 in the match. The 12^th South Asian Games which are being hosted in Guwahati, Assam will see the Indian men’s and women’s hockey teams in action from 7^th – 12^th February 2016.

India started on an attacking note and scored early in the 4^th minute through a field goal from Rani, giving the hosts a 1-0 lead in the match. The Indian eves kept pressing hard, pushing into the opponents circle often. Their circle penetration was soon rewarded with a penalty corner, which was duly converted by Jaspreet Kaur in the 8^th minute giving India a 2-0 lead. The Sri Lankan defence seemed helpless against the Indian attack, which extended their lead in the game by another four consecutive field goals in the 13^th, 14^th, 19^th and 27^th minute through Sonika, Soundarya Yendala (14^th and 27^th) and Jyoti Gupta respectively. The Indian eve added on to the damage for the Sri Lankans with another penalty conversion in 32^nd minute from Jaspreet Kaur taking the score to 7-0 in their favour at the end of the first half.

The second half began with the Sri Lankan girls trying hard to stop the Indian forwards from penetrating into their circle, but their efforts failed as Jaspreet Kaur struck a field goal in the 38^th minute and followed it up with a penalty stroke conversion in the 42^nd minute taking the Indian goal tally to 9 goals in the match. Vice-Captain Deepika added to the Sri Lankan woes scoring another field goal in the 47^th minute taking the score to 10-0 in India’s favour. Jaspreet Kaur was in unstoppable form today as she scored her fifth goal of the day in the 57^th minute through a penalty corner, taking the score board to 11-0 in India’s favour. The Sri Lankan’s were trying hard to keep possession of the ball and were lucky enough to get a solitary field goal to their kitty through P.A.C.D Premasiri in the 58^th minute. The Indian girls finished the match with another penalty corner conversion from Gurji Kaur in the 65^th minute. The match came to an end with India winning the match 12-1 against Sri Lanka.

India now leads the points table with six points to their kitty and will take on the winner from tomorrow’s round robin match between Sri Lanka and Nepal in the gold medal match on 11^th February 2016.