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Hockey World League: Indian eves demolish lowly Fiji 10-0

It rained goals as Indian eves mauled minnows Fiji 10-0 to register their third consecutive win in the women`s competition of the Hero Hockey World League here today.

New Delhi: It rained goals as Indian eves mauled minnows Fiji 10-0 to register their third consecutive win in the women`s competition of the Hero Hockey World League here today.
Unlike their last match against Malaysia, the Indians looked more organised and purposeful today at the floodlit Major Dhyan Chand Stadium. Roselin Dung Dung (15th minute, 45th), Rani Rampal (22nd, 61st) and Jaspreet Kaur (59th, 69th) scored two goals apiece, while Soundarya Yendala (7th), Namita Toppo (11th), Navjot Kaur (38th) and Chanchan Devi (66th) sounded the board once each for the 12th ranked Indians. As the rankings suggest, the 59th ranked Fiji girls turned out to be a complete mismatch for the home team that took control of the proceedings from the word go, and enjoyed it throughout the entire duration of 70 minutes. Such was India`s domination that they pumped in as many as four goals in the first 22 minutes as the Fijians found it difficult to stop the home team`s continuous onslaught. After the change of ends, India scored six more goals, four of which came in the last 11 minutes of the game, to register a convincing victory. The Indians displayed coordinated and structured hockey as they managed to score as many as six goals through field efforts, while the remaining three strikes came of penalty corners and one of the penalty stroke was converted by Jaspreet in the 59th minute. The Indian eves had defeated Kazakhstan 8-0 and Malaysia 3-0 in their first two games. By virtue of three straight wins, India lead the standings with nine points, a point above higher-ranked Japan, who are placed second. A tough encounter awaits India eves tomorrow as they take on the ninth ranked Japan in a decisive match. India coach Neil Hawgood was visibly satisfied with his wards` performance after their ordinary show against Malaysia in the previous game. "We have improved quite a lot from the last game, but we need to do more hard work. We took today`s match as a preparation for the big game against Japan tomorrow," he said. In the day`s other matches in the women`s competition, ninth ranked Japan edged out lowly Russia 3-2 via tie-breaker after both the teams were locked at 1-1 in regulation time, while Malaysia defeated Kazakhstan 3-1. PTI