Hockey: India men storm past Sri Lanka 16-1 to make it two straight wins

Jugraj Singh scored four goals while Abhishek and Dilpreet Singh completed hat-tricks as India thrashed Sri Lanka 16-1 in their second Group A match at the Asian Games on Tuesday.

The win made it two wins from two matches for India after they opened theirs campaign with a 13-1 victory over Indonesia.

Jugraj, India’s dragflick specialist, found the net in the 10th, 22nd, 42nd and 53rd minutes. Abhishek scored in the 11th, 17th and 49th minutes while Dilpreet struck in the 30th, 38th and 55th minutes.

Captain Harmanpreet Singh scored twice while Mandeep Singh, Sukhjeet Singh, Manpreet Singh and Vivek Sagar Prasad also got on the score sheet.

Sri Lanka’s only goal was scored by Suresh Rathnayake in the 50th minute. It was Sri Lanka’s first ever goal against India in the history of the Asian Games.

India started strongly and needed just five minutes to break the deadlock. Mandeep finished with an assist from Abhishek to put India ahead.

Jugraj doubled the lead five minutes later with a powerful header from a penalty corner, Abhishek added another a minute later with a well-worked field goal.

Harmanpreet then converted a penalty corner in the 16th minute and a minute later Abhishek scored for the second time to put India 5-0 up.

In the 22nd minute, Jugraj struck again, converting another penalty corner to make it 6:0.

Sukhjeet added India’s seventh goal in the 29th minute after receiving a pass from vice-captain Hardik Singh. Dilpreet then made it 8-0 at half-time with a clever deflection off Mandeep’s effort.

India continued their dominance after the break. Manpreet scored a rare field goal in the 31st minute before Vivek Sagar Prasad added another five minutes later with a deflected shot.

Dilpreet scored his second goal in the 38th minute after a neat one-two with Sukhjeet, before Jugraj completed the hat-trick when he converted a penalty in the 42nd minute.

Harmanpreet then scored his second goal from a penalty corner in the 45th minute to put India 13-0 up.

Abhishek completed the hat-trick in the 49th minute with a brilliant backhand finish, but Sri Lanka pulled one back a minute later through Rathnayake.

Jugraj restored India’s 13-goal lead with his fourth from the spot in the 53rd minute before Dilpreet completed his hat-trick two minutes later after receiving a superb pass from Mandeep.

India will face South Korea next Thursday.

– The end

Issued by:

Saurabh Kumar

Published on:

22 Sep 2026 18:07 IST