Surinder Kaur shine as India whip HK 7-0 to keep hopes alive

Doha, Dec 8 (UNI) Striker Surinder Kaur struck a purple patch blasting four goals as India whipped a lowly Hong Kong 7-0 to keep their hopes alive for a podium finish in the Women Hockey Competition in the Asian Games here today.

Apart from Surinder's four goals (21st, 35th, 54th and 68th), skipper Sunita Kullu chipped in two (27th and 54th) and Jasjeet Kaur contributed one (50th).

The Indians, who led 3-0 at half time should have finished with a much higher victory margin but once again the forwards failed to captalise on the chances that came their way.

This was India's third win in four matches and they still have two tough ties ahead against Japan and Korea and if they manage to beat any one of them, they are sure to make it to the final. But for that they will have to sharpen and fine tune their attack and finish.

Against Hong Kong India got 11 penalty corners but could convert only three and that too through indirect attempts. They made whopping 44 attempts at the rival goal but lack of finish effected their victory margin.

India started without skipper Jyoti Kullu, who is not fully fit after suffering a head on collision in an earlier match but she was forced to play midway through the first half as other forwards were making mess of the things.

Despite the overwhelming domination, it took the Indians 21 long minutes to break the dead lock and score the first goal when Surinder Kaur converted a stroke (1-0).

Six minutes later the Indian skipper made her presence felt when she gave her side the lead scoring off a penalty corner (2-0). And just on the stroke of half time Surinder struck again scoring off a penalty corner(3-0).

The Indian domination continued in the second session and ball was mostly in the 25 yard area of Hong Kong, but goal keeper Lee Mei Chai and defender Barbara Helen Mountain frustrated the rivals with some superb defence.

The Hong Kong attack was too feeble and they hardly made any move towards rival defence and the Indian goal keeper Dipika Murthy virtually had an off day in the office as she was not tested even once.

Three quick goals in a span of seven minutes saw India taking a 6-0 lead with Jyoti Kullu and Jasjeet scoring field goals in 47th and 50th minutes and Surinder Kaur striking off a penalty corner in the 54th.

After putting India in a commanding position, Jyoti left the field and two minutes before the full time, Surinder Kaur struck again this time scoring a beautiful goal (7-0) to complete the tally.

Despite the big victory margin the Indian performance left lot to be desired and coach MK Kaushik was fully aware of it. ''We will have to improve upon our finishing and not missing as many chances.'' The coach admitted that penalty corner conversion remains a bit of problem. ''We need to convert more and against Japan and Korea we just can't afford to miss.'' ''Three wins out of four is very good going but we have tough task ahead,'' Kaushik said and added, ''The girls will have to give their best in the next two matches because they know we are very close to our target and I have told them that they have in them the quality and capability to emerge winners, it is just a question of being focused, not loose chances and keep nerves.

UNI HSB DH KN1413