Indian Army drubs Mumbai 5-1

In a Pool ‘A’ match, Indian Army hammered Mumbai Hockey Association 5-1 to open its campaign in style.

The Navy-BHA encounter saw the latter take the lead in the 18th minute when Sharda Nand Tiwari converted a penalty stroke.

Navy hit back in the 27th minute when skipper Bharat Singh slotted in from a penalty corner.

After a battle of attrition for the rest of the encounter, Sunny Malik scored in the final minute to seal a victory and improve Navy’s prospects of advancing to the semifinal.

Meanwhile, Army conceded a goal in the sixth minute when MHA’s no.6 Roshan Keisham sounded the boards from a penalty corner. The Mumbai team held on to the lead till the end of the first half, keeping the attack-minded Army forwards at bay.

However, the Army men scored almost immediately at the start of the second half and there seemed to be no stopping them from thereon.

The Army team pumped in five goals as a stunned Mumbai HA defence had no answers. Sajeed Dung Dung opened the account for them, from a penalty corner.  Jitender increased the tally in the 44th minute, which was a field goal.