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Birmingham, August 8
The Indian men’s hockey team suffered a 7-0 drubbing at the hands of defending champions Australia to settle for the silver medal at the Commonwealth Games here today.
Australia blew away India with their whirlwind speed and relentless attacks, extending their dominance on the CWG stage.
Since hockey’s introduction at the Games in 1998, Australia have always stood on the top of the podium. This was India’s third defeat against Australia in a CWG final, having lost 0-8 in 2010 and 0-4 in 2014.
Nathan Ephraums and Tom Wickham scored a brace each while Blake Govers, Jacob Anderson and Flynn Ogilvie also found the net in the lopsided contest. Australia pumped in five goals in the first half to take the game away from India. They scored five field goals and two from penalty corners. Such was Australia’s control over the match that they did not concede a single penalty corner.
Australia secured three penalty corners inside the first 10 minutes and broke the deadlock from the third through Govers. A minute before the first break, Ephramus scored from a counterattack from the right flank.
Anderson made it 3-0 in the 22nd minute, tapping in from close range after PR Sreejesh made the initial save.
India had a shot on goal in the 24th minute but Akashdeep Singh’s reverse hit was saved by Australian goalie Andrew Charter.
Australia added two more goals before half-time through Wickham (26th), who deflected in Tim Brand’s pass, and Anderson (27th). An injury to Manpreet Singh after a collision with an Australian player in the second quarter made life more difficult as the skipper didn’t take the field in the last two quarters. In the 42nd minute, Ephramus scored his second goal with a neat deflection before Ogilvie added another four minutes later.
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