Indian Men's Hockey team script historic 16-0 win over Indonesia, reach Super Four of Asia Cup 2022

Indian Men's hockey team completed a historic feat on Thursday as they thrashed Indonesia 16-0 to qualify for the Super Four stage of Asia Cup 2022. Earlier, the team coached by former skipper Sardar Singh had gone down against Japan 2-5, which left them on the verge of exiting the Asia Cup. 

To keep their hopes of reaching the Super Four stage alive, India needed to win by a margin of 15-0 against Indonesia, and they were able to achieve the same, in an even impressive manner, to qualify from Pool A alongside Japan, as the expense of Pakistan. 

After India's qualification, Pakistan missed out on a berth in the upcoming Men's Hockey World Cup.

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Magnificent game for #MenInBlue as they mark a big win against Indonesia at the Hero Asia Cup 2022 to qualify for the Super 4s of the Hero Asia Cup 2022!#IndiaKaGame #HockeyIndia #HeroAsiaCup #MatchDay #INDvsINA @CMO_Odisha @sports_odisha @IndiaSports @Media_SAI pic.twitter.com/TJOEixswSk

— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) May 26, 2022

The massive win not only secured India's passage into the knockout stage of the tournament but also shut the door on Pakistan.

Both India and Pakistan finished on four points each in Pool A behind Japan but the holders qualified for the Super 4s on the basis of a better goal difference (1).

India needed to beat Indonesia by a 15-0 margin or more to make it to the next round and the defending champions rode on splendid show from Dipsan Tirkey, who hammered five goals, and Sudev Belimagga, who sounded the board thrice.

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Veteran SV Sunil, Pawan Rajbhar and Karthi Selvam scored a brace each while Uttam Singh and Nilam Sanjeep Xess scored a goal each.

Pakistan had lost 2-3 to Japan earlier in the day.

With inputs from PTI