Ruthless Kookaburras put seven past India

The Kookaburras signalled their gold medal intentions in Tokyo on Sunday night with a 7-1 smashing of India.

Wollongong due Flynn Ogilvie and Blake Govers starred for the world number one ranked team with five Olympic debutants notching goals to ensure the Aussie’s pole position at the top of Pool A - and with a tournament goal tally to envy.

The 7-1 win is the second in as many days for the Kookaburras and is Australia’s largest in Olympic history over India in men’s hockey, surpassing the 6-1 win in 1976.

Head Coach Colin Batch was encouraged by his team’s performance but remains focused on qualifying for the quarter finals to put the team into medal contention.

“We had a great game today, so we have to maintain that momentum,” he said.

“At the start India had us under a fair bit of pressure and we had to defend strongly.

“The score could have easily been much closer if they had scored an early goal, but we withstood that early pressure and then took over the game. The counterattack, particularly in the second quarter, was outstanding.

“The guys are excited to have played so well, it was a good result, but it is still only the second game in a long tournament.”

While the 10,000 seat Oi Hockey Stadium was void of fans due to the Covid 19 pandemic, Australian Olympic Team Chef de Mission Ian Chesterman was in attendance to cheer on the Kookaburras and he would have enjoyed what he saw.

The Australians started strongly scoring their first goal from a thumping top-of-the-circle shot courtesy of Jake Whetton and a deft touch by Daniel Beale from a penalty corner in the 10th minute.

The Indians responded, claiming two penalty corners in the first quarter, but brilliant defence by post man Flynn Olgivie and keeper Andrew Charter kept the Kookaburras 1-0 up at the break.

It was a matter of second-time-lucky for Olympic debutant Jeremy Hayward who converted the second of two penalty corner attempts with a lethal drag flick in the opening minutes of the second quarter.

Moments later, Blake Govers broke through with great pace to set up Ogilvie who slammed the ball in from the top of the circle.

Not to be outdone, Josh Beltz scored from a reverse stick just two minutes later to give the Kookaburras a 4-0 lead at half time. The goal was just his fourth in 47 internationals for the Kookaburras and sealed a dream Olympic debut.

India rallied after the break with striker Dilpreet Singh expertly glancing in a low hard drive from outside the circle to put his team on the scoreboard in the 34th minute.

Two goals in two minutes for Govers, one from a penalty stroke and the other from a penalty corner, signalled the Kookaburras dominance over a talented Indian side with a 6-1 lead.

A show-stopping break away in the final quarter saw Tim Brand manoeuvre around disheartened Indian keeper Sreejesh Parattu Raveendran Sreejesh and beat defender Birendra Lakra to score the only goal of the final 15 minutes.

The Kookaburras will have a rest day on Monday before facing Argentina at 9.30am local time on Tuesday.

Match Details
India 1 (Dilpreet 34’)
Kookaburras 7 (Beale 10’, Hayward 21’, Ogilvie 23’, Beltz 26’, Govers 40’/42’, Brand 51’)
@ Oi Hockey Stadium, Tokyo
 
Kookaburras: 1.Laachlan Sharp, 6.Matthew Dawson, 10.Josh Beltz, 11.Eddie Ockenden (c), 12.Jake Whetton, 13.Blake Govers, 14.Dylan Martin, 15.Josh Simmonds, 16.Tim Howard, 17.Aran Zalewski, 22.Flynn Ogilvie, 23.Daniel Beale, 25.Trent Mitton, 29.Tim Brand, 30.Andrew Charter (gk), 32.Jeremy Hayward

Written by Catriona Dixon