Asian Champions Trophy: Drag flicker Gurjit Kaur's five goals helped the Indian women's hockey team beat Thailand 5-0 in their first match of the Asian Champions Trophy here on Sunday. Gurjit converted a penalty stroke in the second minute of the match while Vandana Kataria scored the second goal five minutes later.
By the end of the first quarter, Lilima Minz scored India's third goal in the 14th minute while Gurjit and Jyoti scored on a penalty corner in the 14th and 15th minutes to make it 5-0. India dominated the second quarter as well. Rajwinder Kaur, who is making her international hockey debut, scored a field goal in the 16th minute while Gurjit scored her third goal in the 24th minute. Soon after, Lilima converted a penalty corner into a goal.
Gurjit scored another goal in the 25th minute to lead India 9-0 at the interval. India did not provide any chances to Thailand and continued attacking. Jyoti scored a goal in the 36th minute to take India's goal tally to double figures while Sonika scored her first goal of the match in the 43rd minute.
Thailand put up some good defense.
The scene did not change even in the fourth quarter, and India continued to attack. Thailand, however, made some good defense in the meantime. Monica scored a goal in the 55th minute while three minutes later Gurjit scored her fifth goal at the penalty corner and 13th for India. This was the Indian team's first match after finishing fourth at the Tokyo Olympics. Captain Rani has been given a break from the tournament and goalkeeper Savita led the team in her absence.