India thrash Chile 7-0 (photo by hockey India) India opened their FIH Junior Hockey World Junior Championship campaign by thrashing Chile 7-0. Rosan Khujur and Dilraj Singh scored twice each to lead the Indian team to victory on Friday.The scoring opened in the second quarter as Rosan found the net in the 16th and 21st minutes. Dilraj Singh added his wickets in the 25th and 34th minutes while Ajeet Yadav, Anmol Ekka and captain Rohit contributed one wicket each.India, ranked second in the Under-21 category, will face Oman in the next Group B match on Saturday.In the first quarter, India dominated possession but struggled to create scoring opportunities against Chile’s strong defence. The Indians had their first chance from a penalty corner just before the end of the quarter, but skipper Rohit’s attempt was well saved. The deadlock was broken a minute into the second quarter when Manmeet Singh set up Rosan who scored from the circle. Shortly after, Manmeet wasted a chance when his rebound went wide of the Chile goal.Rosan scored his second goal with a deft maneuver around two defenders and Chile goalkeeper Nicolas Troncosa after receiving a pass from Arshdeep Singh. India’s dominance continued when Dilraj scored from a penalty corner in the 25th minute. The second quarter was particularly strong for India, with most of the play taking place in Chile’s half.In the third quarter, Dilraj scored his second goal after receiving a pass from Ankita Pal. Ajeet Yadav added another goal a minute later with a reverse strike assisted by Gurjot Singh.Chile earned their first penalty corner in the 40th minute but failed to capitalize on it. Anmol Ekka extended India’s lead to 6-0 when he converted a penalty corner in the 48th minute.In the closing minutes, captain Rohit successfully converted the penalty. India had two more penalty corner opportunities in the closing seconds but failed to convert.Earlier in the day, New Zealand beat China 5-3 in Pool C, with Jonty Elmes scoring a hat-trick. Owen Brown and Sam Lints also scored for New Zealand, while Yubo Wang and Jialiang Zhang scored China’s goals.In another Group C match, Argentina beat Japan 4-1. Nicolas Rodriguez scored twice from penalty corners, while Mateo Torrigiani and Bruno Correa added field goals. Naru Kimura scored Japan’s only goal.Switzerland secured a 4-0 win over Oman in Group B with goals from Jonathan Baumbach, Mattia Ribaud, Léonard Kraxner and Alessio Brunold.The tournament is jointly hosted by Chennai and Madurai and will continue till December 10.
