Asian Games 2023: India complete a 16-1 rout vs Singapore in men's hockey

A lowly Singapore proved no match for the Indian men's hockey team as top-ranked India continued its splendid run in Asian Games 2023, this time hammering Singapore 16-1 on Tuesday.

Indian skipper Harmanpreet Singh led from the front and converted 4 penalty corners (24th, 39th, 40th, 42nd), while Mandeep Singh (12th, 30th, 51st) struck a hattrick.

Abhishek (51st, 52nd) and Varun Kumar (two PCs in 55th) struck two each, while Lalit Kumar Upadhyay (16th), Gurjant Singh (22nd), Vivek Sagar Prasad (23rd), Manpreet Singh (37th), Shamsher Singh (38th) completed the rout of Singapore, who are 46 notches below the world No 3 Indians.

Having leaked 14 goals, Singapore, who are ranked a lowly 49th, finally managed to score their first goal of the match, and the tournament, when Zaki Zulkarnain slammed home in the 53rd minute.

From being 1-0 up after Mandeep Singh's 12th-minute strike, India pumped in five goals in the second quarter to take a commanding 6-0 lead going into halftime.

Firm favourites India had earlier blanked lowly Uzbekistan 16-0 in their tournament opener on Sunday.

India will next take on Asian Games Champion Japan on Thursday.