Asian Champions Trophy: Chinese Checkers!

India skipper Harmanpreet Singh (centre) after scoring against China at Chennai yesterday

It was always going to be a mismatch when World No. 4 India took on World No. 25 China in their campaign opener of the Asian Champions Trophy here. And that's exactly how it panned out with the hosts winning 7-2 at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium on Thursday. However, India's ‘defend to win' approach in their first home game under new coach Craig Fulton - a strategy opposite to that of his predecessor Graham Reid's ‘full press attack' ploy - did not come through as convincingly.

China's Wenhui E celebrates a goal against India. Pics/Hockey India

Seven Chinese debutants

This Chinese team are very inexperienced bunch with as many as seven debutants, yet, their swift and one-touch movements caused the Indian defence a few problems. At the end of two such moves, Wenhui E and Jiesheng Gao scored a field goal and converted off a penalty corner drag flick respectively, beating India goalkeeper Krishan Pathak all ends up. Veteran goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, who had started the game before letting Pathak step in, promptly returned to man the post after the second quarter. Thankfully, India had enough goals in the bag with skipper Harmanpreet Singh (5th and 8th min), Sukhjeet Singh (15th), Akashdeep Singh (16th), Varun (19th and 30th) and Mandeep Singh (40th) getting their names on the scoresheet. However, at the hour mark, the hosts would have learnt valuable lessons that will come in handy when they face better opposition like (No. 9) Korea and (No. 10) Malaysia in the next few days.

Malaysia beat Pakistan

Earlier, in the second match of the day, experienced campaigners Malaysia (with a whopping 2,161 caps between their players) were too hot to handle in a 3-1 victory over a comparatively inexperienced Pakistan (just 422 total caps among them). Malaysia went ahead when Firhaan Ashari calmly beat Pakistani goalkeeper Akmal Hussain twice within a span of 60 seconds from close range. Pakistan missed half a dozen penalty corners and even a penalty stroke when Abdul Rehman was denied from the spot by Malaysian custodian Hafizuddin Othman. Malaysia got their third through an easy tap-in by Shello Silverius (45th min) after which Rehman made amends for his earlier miss with a field goal five minutes from full time. In the opening match, Korea showed just why they are the defending champions, registering a confident come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Asian Games champions Japan. The Japanese went ahead in the sixth minute through a Ryoma Ooka field goal. Korea got the equaliser through Cheoleon Park in the second quarter and the subsequent winner in the third (35th min) through a smart deflection by Junghoo Kim.