Jugraj stars as India trounce Canada 14-3

Jugraj Singh scored four goals as the Indian men’s hockey team thrashed Canada 14-3 in a high-scoring encounter to top the pool standings and make the final of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup here on Saturday.

Having lost only to Belgium by a goal earlier in the tournament, India were upbeat after a sensational 3-2 win against New Zealand in their previous game. India will play Belgium in the summit clash on Sunday.

The match began with an early goal by Nilakanta Sharma in the fourth minute, followed by a 10th minute goal by Rajinder Singh who has been in good nick, since his debut in the senior side.

It was a thrilling start to the game with Canada responding to the early goals by creating PCs and even converting from them. In the 11th minute, Brendan Guraliuk converted a fine PC. Two more goals were scored in the following minutes through Jugraj Singh and Amit Rohidas in the 12th and 15th minute respectively. The 4-1 lead put India in good stead to build on their performance in the second quarter. With senior stars in the team rested for this tournament, the onus to outshine was on a younger lot and they did well to hold off pressure from the Canadian defence. A flurry of goals continued in this quarter with Rajinder scoring in the 24th minute, Dilpreet Singh in the 25th minute and Jugraj scoring his second goal in the 26th minute.

India, already leading 7–1, continued their dominance despite Canada pulling one back through a 35th-minute penalty stroke by Matthew Sarmento.

Jugraj completed his hat-trick in the 39th minute, and Selvam Karthi scored soon after for a 9–2 lead. The final quarter produced six goals.

Rohidas struck in the 46th minute, followed by Jugraj’s penalty stroke conversion in the 50th minute. Canada scored through Jyothswaroop Sidhu, but India finished strong with goals from Sanjay (56’) and Abhishek, who netted twice in the 57th and 59th minutes.