Olympic Qualifiers: India fight back to thrash Russia 7-1

BHUBANESWAR: As if the gripping Indian women's qualification match didn't provide enough drama for the night, the spirited Russians gave the men's side an early jolt at the Kalinga Stadium here on Saturday. After conceding an opening minute goal, Manpreet Singh & Co regrouped in quick time to register a comfortable 7-1 win.
With the win coupled with the 4-2 verdict in their favour in the opening fixture of the two-leg FIH Olympic qualifier against the team, ranked 22 in the world, the hosts confirmed their Tokyo berth.
India, who were scrappy in Friday's performance, put up a better all-round show on the day. The strikers on their part fought hard to outwit their opponents in both skill and attack. A case to point was the 17 circle penetrations off which three made it to the goal.
Even as the home side was settling in, Russia made the first attack and Alexey Sobolevskiy caught the defenders off-guard as he took a successful hit at the far post.
The goal silenced the vivacious weekend crowd which turned out in huge numbers to cheer the home side. But the Indians were far from unnerved. They upped the tempo, kept the ball in play on the flanks and fell back on the basic theory of pass-and-play. The results started to come in the 17th minute when Manpreet Singh came charging in with the ball and relayed a pass to Hardik Singh, who targeted the far post and a waiting Lalit Upadhyay slotted in the deflection.
Result: India 7 (Lalit Upadhyay 17, Akashdeep Singh 23, 29; Nilakanta Sharma 47, Rupinder Pal Singh 48, 59; Amit Rohidas 60) bt Russia 1 (Alexey Sobolevskiy 1).