India men ease past Oman for second straight win

New Delhi: Vice captain VR Raghunath, Rupinderpal Singh and Nithin Thimmaiah scored two goals each in another one-side 9-1 win for the Indian men's team in the FIH Hockey World League at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium on Wednesday. They had hammered Fiji 16-0 in their first match.

It didn't take India long to open their scoring when Raghunath slammed India's first penalty corner home as early as the 3rd minute. Rupinder misfired on the second penalty corner but corrected his mistake to convert another one in the 14th minute.

Nithin then scored at the end of a classic solo run down the right flank in the 16th minute to make it 3-0, followed soon by Dharamvir in the 20th when he finished accurately on a superb field effort. Oman had their only moment of joy in the 35th minute, when Mohamed Hubais reduced the deficit against the run of play off a grounded penalty corner push, making it 4-1 at half-time.

Vice captain VR Raghunath, Rupinderpal Singh and Nithin Thimmaiah scored two goals each in a one-side 9-1 win for the hosts.

Rupinder (38th), Raghunath (40th) and Mandeep Singh (42nd) then made it 7-1 in the space of four minutes to put it way beyond the hapless Oman team. This was also Mandeep's first international goal after he missed out on debut against Fiji on Monday.

Thimmaiah (60th) and Gurjinder Singh (65th) put the final nails into Oman's coffin to end the match at 9-1. India converted five of the eight penalty corners they got, with Rupinder, Raghunath and Gurjinder shooting wayward once each.

The hosts next play Ireland, their first real test of the tournament, on Thursday. Like India, Ireland too are so far unbeaten in the tournament.

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