By IANS
Chennai : The first three matches of the BSNL Asia Cup men’s hockey tournament here Friday were totally a one-sided affair with Malaysia, Bangladesh and South Korea registering big wins.
Bangladesh pulverised Thailand 13-0 and South Korea beat Sri Lanka 12-2 in Pool A encounters, while Malaysia swamped Singapore 8-0 in a Pool B match.
Malaysia and Singapore featured in the tournament opener and the writing was on the wall in the third minute itself when Zulkifli Mohammed Rejab opened his account.
Though Malaysia scored only two more goals till lemon time, it was clear that its tiny neighbour was just that when it came to stick work.
Rejab, captain Chua Boonhuat and Alzon Misron scored a brace each before the final whistle – all this in a situation in which Malaysia did not have much time to acclimatise and did not play a single practice game.
Boonhuat said he had expected a bigger margin.
“We started slowly but gathered momentum in the second half. In fact, our best time was when we were nearing the final whistle. We scored three goals in the final five minutes,” Boonhuat said.
“We hope to be in the semi-final and then take it one step at time before the final. In a nutshell, it is a nice present on our national day,” he added.
If the first match seemed like a massacre of the innocents – the next one saw Bangladesh drubbing a hapless Thailand.
Forward Rasel Mahmud scored four goals, followed by three from penalty corner specialist Mohammed Mamun. Braces by Mohammed Zahidful Isla and Mohammed Iqbal Nadir and solitary goals by Khondokar Hasan and Mohammed Jahid Bin Talib completed the tally.
As for Sri Lanka, they managed to hold their heads high by scoring two goals despite being overrun the better trained South Koreans.
The ball was in the possession of the Koreans most of the time and the Chennai crowd lustily cheered the islanders on the rare occasions when they had the ball – and quite raucously when they managed to score.
South Korean captain Kim Chul was a worried man after the victory.
“Some of my boys are injured. This will be a cause for worry for the future matches,” Kim said, speaking in halting English.
Sri Lankan manager Dayal Deegahawatura said he was happy his team was able to give the better-trained Koreans a run for their money.