India went on a goal spree against minnows Oman, winning 9-0 to advance to the semi-finals of the 8th Men’s Junior Asia Cup at the Wisma Belia Hockey Stadium.
As hosts of the 2016 Junior World Cup in New Delhi, the Indians are automatic qualifiers despite making great inroads into the semi-finals stage here unscathed and were thoroughly dominant against the Omanis under clear skies and sweltering afternoon heat.
India now goes into a head on collision with Japan in the semi-finals on Saturday. The Japanese went through to the last four with a 3-0 win over Bangladesh. The top four teams in the 8th Men’s Junior Asia Cup qualify for next year’s Junior World Cup.
Harmanpreet Singh opened the flood gates for India with a seventh minute penalty stroke goal and added the third in the 12th minute via a penalty corner after Armaan Qureshi made it 2-0 two minutes earlier. Goals from Gurjant Singh (18th, FG), Santa Singh (22nd, PC) and Mandeep Singh (30th, FG) gave India a comfortable 6-0 lead at the interval.
“We played well though there were glimpses of Oman making some good moves. I am very satisfied with the performance of my players,” said India Head Coach, Harendra Singh.
Oman, who were dead serious in making an impact in Kuantan after camping in Germany and Netherlands for a month and coached by former German Olympian Oliver Michael Kurtz, struggled to get past a fortified Indian defence despite making short forays into the semi-circle.
The second half belonged to India as they blasted three more goals field goals from Harjeet Singh (45th), Harmanpreet Singh scoring his hat-trick (50th) and Umar Mohammed in the 54th minute.