Women’s Junior Asia Cup 2023: India thrashes Uzbekistan 22-0 in opener

The Indian junior women’s team kicked off its Women’s Junior Asia Cup 2023 campaign in emphatic fashion, defeating Uzbekistan 22-0 in its first game of the tournament in Kakamigahara on Sunday.

Indian women’s junior hockey team in action against Uzbekistan. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

The Indian junior women’s team kicked off its Women’s Junior Asia Cup 2023 campaign in emphatic fashion, defeating Uzbekistan 22-0 in its first game of the tournament in Kakamigahara, Gifu Prefecture, Japan on Sunday.  

The scorers for India were Vaishnavi Vitthal Phalke, Mumtaz Khan, Annu, Sunelita Toppo, Manju Chorsiya, Deepika Soreng, Deepika, and Neelam. 

India began the contest on the front foot; attacking Uzbekistan with regularity courtesy of which it was able to take an early lead in the game as Phalke converted a penalty corner, while Mumtaz doubled the Indian team’s lead moments later by scoring a field goal. Annu added to the team’s tally by netting a goal as the opening quarter ended with India having a 3-0 lead. 

The second quarter was no different than the first as India continued to dominate the game by keeping the ball possession and continuously attacking and it helped them extend their lead by a big margin as Toppo, Chorsiya, Soreng, Anu netted goals to help India go into the half-time break with a 10-0 lead. 

Despite having a healthy lead, the Indian team was showing no signs of slowing down in the third quarter and continued to dominate the proceedings with Deepika netting a goal through a penalty corner, while Annu scored two more goals to help India take 13-0 lead. There would be more to come as India played free-flowing hockey, and Mumtaz and Deepika scored their respective second goals of the match, making it 15-0 by the end of the third quarter. 

The Indian team was eager to score more goals and it did precisely the same by scoring three quick goals in the fourth quarter through Deepika, Mumtaz, and Neelam to make it 18-0. However, that was not all as Annu scored off a penalty stroke, which was also her sixth goal of the match, while Vaishnavi Vitthal Phalke netted her second goal of the game to make it 20-0 for India. A minute later, Deepika smashed home her shot from a penalty corner following which Mumtaz Khan netted a goal as the match ended 22-0 in favour of India. 

The Indian team will next play against Malaysia in its second pool game on June 5.