India mauls France 7-0 in Olympic qualifier

KAZAN: The Indian women's hockey team restored some pride, thrashing France 7-0 in their last round robin match of the Olympic qualification tournament here on Saturday.

India, who have failed to book a ticket for Beijing Olympics, came out all guns blazing against a less fancied France and dominated the proceedings from the start of the match.

India opened the scoring in the fourth minute of the match through Rani Devi who later added two more goals in the 54th and 70th minute to register a hat-trick.

However, India's woes with penalty corner conversion continued as they utilised only two out of half a dozen corners.

Surinder Kaur (sixth and 45th), Rajwinder Singh (17th) and Jasjeet Kaur Handa (66th) were the other scorers.

With Saturday's win, India is placed fourth in the points table of the six-nation tournament with six points from two wins, while France find themselves at the bottom without a win.

India will next play Netherlands Antilles for the third place play-off on Sunday.