Shockey!

Australian players celebrate a goal against India off a penalty corner. Pic/PTI

The Indian men's hockey team was pummelled 1-7 by World No. 1 Australia in their second Pool A match of the Olympic Games here on Sunday, a morale-shattering loss that exposed every possible chink in the side's armour.

The mighty Kookaburras simply toyed with the Indian defence after the first quarter and scored goals at will for their second consecutive win in the competition. For India, it was their biggest loss since Australian Graham Reid took charge of the team as coach in April 2019.

Australia looked dominant and were in complete control at the onset, scoring goals through Daniel Beale (10th minute), Joshua Beltz (26th), Andrew Flynn Ogilvie (23rd), Jeremy Hayward (21st), Blake Govers (40th, 42nd) and Tim Brand (51st) to secure the easy win. India's lone goal came from a Dilpreet Singh deflection (34th).

India had beaten New Zealand 3-2 in their opening fixture on Saturday.

Eight-time former champs India looked completely off colour as the team's backline was put under relentless pressure by the Australians. In the first quarter, India put up a semblance of fight but in the next 15 minutes it was all Australia, pumping goals at will. However, it was India who had the first chance at the goal, earning a penalty corner in the eighth minute, but Harmanpreet Singh failed to deliver. Two minutes later, Australia surged ahead when Beale deflected in Jacob Whetton's strike after a poor penalty corner execution.

A minute later, Dilpreet missed a golden chance from close range to level the scores. India were unlucky not to have equalised just seconds from the first quarter when Rupinder Pal Singh's low flick from their second penalty corner was brilliantly saved at the goalline by Andrew Flynn Ogilvie. The second quarter completely belonged to Australia as they scored three goals in a span of five minutes. First, Hayward found the net from Australia's third penalty corner and then Ogilvie slammed home from the top right corner of the circle. If that was not enough, Beltz added to India's misery with a fourth goal, four minutes before half-time with a reverse hit.

The Indians showed some spark after the change of ends and attacked the Australian goal in numbers, securing three back-to-back penalty corners but wasting all.
Four minutes into the third quarter, Dilpreet infused some life into the game by pulling one back for India with a deflection. India then wasted another penalty corner (40th minute) when Mandeep Singh failed to deflect in Amit Rohidas' lay-off.

The Kookaburras then got two quick goals through Govers - first from the penalty spot and then from a penalty corner. Tim Brand rounded off the tally from a tight angle nine minutes from the hooter.

"We are disappointed with this result. We gave them easy opportunities and they scored. We should be much tighter in our marking and whenever we get opportunities in the opponent's circle, we must score. Today we missed a couple of good opportunities," said a dejected India captain Manpreet. India play Spain on Tuesday.

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