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Classy India outclass China

It took India a while to warm to the task, but once they got going, China had no reply.

India's Prabjot Singh and Arjun Halappa in a raid on the Chinese goal [Photo by Sportalasia]

India, who are favourites to win the 4th Junior Asia Cup, relied on their brilliant individual skills and experience to trounce the hard-running Chinese 8-1 at the Bukit Jalil Hockey Stadium tonight.

Su Rifeng in the Chinese goal also had an inspired first half as he singlehandedly kept the score down.

The first half was evenly matched but Arjun Halappa (10th) and Deepak Thakur (33rd) applied the finishing touches from close range to give India a 2-0 half-time lead.

The second half followed the patten of the first with India doing the attacking and China content with the occassional counterattacks.

But the flood gates opened when Arjun Halappa converted a penalty stroke in the 45th minute.

Gagan Ajit Singh (49th, 65th), Len Ayappa (51), Praboth Trikey (56th) and a second from Deepak (62nd) added to the scoreline.

India's Arjun Halappa tries to get past a Chinese defender [Photo by Sportalasia]

China however had the final say when Song Yi dived to deflect a pass from Na Yubo into goal in the dying seconds to reduce the margin.

China did earn a last second penalty-corner but just like in their 3-4 defeat to Japan yesterday, they could not put the finishing touch to the chance.

Nonetheless, China can still walk with their heads held high. It will come as no surprise if they finish in the top sixth here.

In their opening match, India had beaten Bangladesh 5-1.

In the others matches of the day, Korea enjoyed another easy victory after defeating Singapore 10-0. Korea earlier had hammered Chinese Taipei 13-1 in their first match.

Uzbekistan proved to be the better side in a battle between minnows in Group B, defeating Iran 6-0. The Uzbeks has earlier lost 1-5 to Bangladesh yesterday in their first match.

India meets Japan in its next match tomorrow.

Look out for the full report in 35 minutes

Pool Standings:

Group A	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pt
Korea	2	2	0	0	23	1	6
Pakistan	1	1	0	0	13	0	3
Malaysia	1	1	0	0	12	0	3
Singapore	2	0	0	2	0	23	0
Chinese Taipei	2	0	0	2	1	25	0

Group B	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pt
Japan	2	2	0	0	17	3	6
India	2	2	0	0	13	2	6
Uzbekistan	2	1	0	1	7	5	3
Bangladesh	2	1	0	1	6	6	3
China	2	0	0	2	4	12	0
Iran	2	0	0	2	0	19	0

Courtsey: www.hockeyasia.com