India's men's field hockey team scripted their biggest ever tournament win at the Asian Games on Wednesday with a 26-0 thrashing of the hapless team from China's Hong Kong.
Scoring at a mind-boggling rate of one goal almost every two minutes, the team not only set a new Asian Games record but also shattered an 86-year-old record, surpassing their 24-1 victory over the United States at the 1932 Olympic Games.
The attacking Indian side scored six goals at the end of the first quarter with the first four goals coming in the first four minutes, and nine more in the next. The second half saw another 11 goals scored.
India players celebrate after scoring a goal during the men's field hockey pool A match with Hong Kong at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, August 22, 2018. /VCG Photo
The eight-time Olympic champions' dominance was such that with seven minutes to go, they took off their goalkeeper from the field and sent their 11-players to the Hong Kong goal. Earlier, India had overtaken their previous Asian Games record during their 17-0 hammering of hosts Indonesia in the ongoing Asian Games.
Of course, this is not the world's biggest score as bigger ones have been struck in Oceania and Pan American Games at above 30 goals a match.
India field hockey players in action against the USA at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. /VCG File Photo
Led by Lal Shah Bokhari, who later became Pakistan's Sri Lankan Ambassador, India steamrolled the hosts USA 24-1 at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics on their way to win their second successive gold in the quadrennial event, after winning it for the first time at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. That goal-fest was led by the greatest-ever Indian field hockey player Dhyan Chand and his legendary brother Roop Singh and stood unbroken for the next eight decades.
Dhyan Chand’s incredible goal-scoring record during the heydays of India’s Olympic conquest, compelled legendary cricketer Don Bradman to comment, “You score goals like runs in cricket.”
(With input from AFP.)