A day to forget for men’s hockey team

Tokyo, July 25

The Indian men’s hockey team was thrashed 7-1 by world No. 1 Australia in their second Pool A match of the Olympic Games here today, a morale-shattering loss that exposed every possible chink in the side’s armour.

The mighty Kookaburras simply toyed with the Indian defence after the first quarter and scored goals at will to comfortably secure their second consecutive win in the competition. For India, it was their biggest loss since Australian Graham Reid took charge as coach in April 2019.

Australia looked dominant and were in complete control from the onset, scoring goals through Daniel Beale (10th minute), Joshua Beltz (26th), Andrew Flynn Ogilvie (23rd), Jeremy Hayward (21st), Blake Govers (40th, 42nd) and Tim Brand (51st) to secure an easy win.

India’s lone goal came from Dilpreet Singh in the 34th minute. They will next play Spain on Tuesday.

This was India’s worst loss in Olympics hockey. The previous worst was also suffered at the hands of Australia, a 6-1 hammering in the group stage of Montreal 1976. — PTI