U18 Asia Cup: India beat Chinese Taipei, Sangita score hat-trick

Bangkok, Thailand : India’s U18 Women team beat Chinese Taipei 4-0 in a clinical performance today at the 4th Women U18 Asia Cup.

India started the game strongly, and scored the opener in the 2nd minute courtesy a superb effort from Leelavathy Mallamada Jaya.

In a spirited first half performance, India kept up a consistent pressure on Chinese Taipei deep into their own half. Jaya's movement off the ball was superb in creating opportunities and penetrations into the Chinese Taipei circle regularly. The Indian eves kept creating chances and won penalty corners, going into halftime with a 1-0 lead.

Almost in a replay of the way they started the first half, India scored in the 37th minute with the help of Sangita Kumari to wrest control over the game.

Sangita scored her second goal of the game eight minutes later after some superb play on the wing from Jaya and the subsequent cutback found her in front of the goal with the simplest of tap-ins. She completed a hat-trick with a successful PC conversion in the 65th minute to give India a comfortable 4-0 victory.

Speaking after the game, Coach Baljeet Singh said, "It was a great performance to get our tournament up and running. It was immensely satisfying to see the intensity of our game today, and from a physical aspect it was a testament to how hard we have worked in the camp. Perhaps our only regret is our inefficiency from PCs, and we will work on that to ensure a better performance in the next match."