Bhubaneswar: Host India stormed into the quarter-final of Hockey World Cup-2018 after thrashing Canada 5-1 at Kalinga Stadium here this evening. This was the must-win match to secure direct qualification for quarterfinals.
Harmanpreet Singh, Chinglensana Kangujam, Lalit Upadhyay and Amit Rohidas were the scorers for India while Floris Van Son was the lone scorer for Canada.
With Harmanpreet’s goal (12), India were leading till the half-time with a 1-0 score. However, Floris Van Son equalized the score in the 39th munites and ended the third quarter with the same score.
Chinglensana (45) regained the lead for India through a field goal early in the fourth and final quarter. However, the packed stadium cheered the most when local lad Amit Rohidas scored through a penalty corner to stretch India’s lead further in the 51st minute.
Lalit Upadhyay scored his second and the fourth goal in the fourth quarter for India in the 57th minute. He was adjudged the Man of the Match for scoring two goals.
On the other hand, Belgium outplayed South Africa earlier in the day with a scoreline of 5-1.
Now, Belgium and Canada moved into crossovers by the virtue of this result.
Ms Kalinga