India begin Hockey World Cup campaign with a 5-0 win over South Africa

ONI Bureau: The Hockey fans had expected a lot from their team. And, the Indian players delivered. They launched their Hockey World Cup 2018 campaign in style with a comfortable 5-0 win over South Africa. India will take on Belgium in the next match on December 2.

The Indians had been on an attacking mode from the very beginning. Mandeep Singh gave India the lead in the 10th minute and Akashdeep Singh made it 2-0 in the 12th minute. India lead 2-0 in the half time.

In the 3rd quarter, India extended the lead to 4-0, as Simranjeet Singh and Lalit Upadhyay scored in the 43rd and 45th minutes. In the last quarter, Simranjeet made it 5-0 as he scored his second goal of the match in the 46th minute.

Simranjeet Singh was adjudged as the ‘Player of the Match’. Earlier, Belgium had beaten Canada 2-1 in the first game. We will have two games tomorrow – Argentina vs Spain and New Zealand vs France.