Asian Games: Sehrawat's record caps another India goalfest vs Thailand

With each goal India scored, the celebrations remained rather muted, both on and off the pitch. Except for that one goal late in the 57th minute.

The Indian women's hockey team has been growing in confidence since June. They won the Nations Cup to earn promotion to the top-flight FIH Pro League, then finished an impressive fifth at the World Cup last month.

Their campaign at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya started with comprehensive wins over minnows Uzbekistan (19-0) and Indonesia (13-1). On Wednesday (23 September), at the Gifu Prefectorial Green Stadium, another goalfest was expected of them. And they delivered, beating Thailand 20-1.

India knows, though, that these results are coming against teams well below their standard, and there are bigger challenges ahead as they head to the latter stages of the tournament. And so they celebrated each goal with a smile and a few high-fives.

Then came that goal by Deepika Sehrawat towards the end. It was her ninth of the day, and it helped her break her own record for scoring the most goals by an individual player in a women's hockey match at the Asian Games.

Teammates rushed towards her to offer a hug in celebration of a personal milestone.

But the bigger picture still remains unchanged.

The team may be in good form, but the target at the Asian Games is to win the country's first gold medal in the women's hockey tournament since the event was introduced to the Asiad roster in 1982. And with that gold comes the coveted quota for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Matches against minnow teams may have come early for India, yet they still need to be won. And once again, the Indian team got off to a flying start, with Sehrawat scoring in the second minute through a penalty corner.

The team's designated drag-flicker, in fact, scored each of her nine goals through penalty corners.

There was no keeping away Navneet Kaur from scoring, though. The bona fide goalscorer scored four goals – one in each quarter – while Rutuja Pisal also picked up a hat-trick, with two first-quarter goals and her last coming in the 47th minute.

Lalremsiami, Sakshi Rana, captain Salima Tete and veteran Neha Goyal chipped in with goals as Thailand struggled to string together any passes to threaten the Indian goal.

In fact, the Indians did not face any circle entries in their own half throughout the first half.

In the 57th minute, though, there was a major celebration on the pitch. A rookie error in defence saw a wayward pass being mistrapped by an unchallenged Lalthantluangi, with the ball striking her foot and giving Thailand its only penalty corner of the match.

Supansa Samanso slammed a drag-flick hard towards goal, and a deflection off the Indian stick saw the ball hit the back of the net.

Thailand trailed by 19 goals at the time, but there was a volley of celebration from the players and coaching staff.

Moments later, the Indians celebrated Sehrawat's Asian Games record to bring to an end a comfortable outing.

India now tops Pool B with three wins in as many matches, having scored 56 goals and conceded two.

Next up for them, though, is 2018 Asian Games champions Japan. That will be India's first true test at the Asian Games.