Kakamigahara (Japan): The Indian men's hockey team produced a clinical display, thrashing Chinese Taipei 13-1 in its last Pool A match to storm into the semifinals of the U-18 Asia Cup 2026 here on Wednesday.
India ended their pool engagements with wins against Kazakhstan, Korea and Chinese Taipei, while losing to hosts Japan. It gave them nine points from four matches.
The team's attacking prowess was on full display against Chinese Taipei, with Ashish Tani Purti emerging as the standout performer with a hat-trick (27th, 35th, 42nd minutes), while Gazee Khan (40th, 44th), Siddharth Ben (30th, 52nd) and Rahul Yadav (20th, 54th) scored a brace each.
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Karan Gautam (7th), Premchand Soy (11th), captain Ketan Kushwaha (13th) and Varinder Singh (50th) also contributed to the tally.
India made their intentions clear from the outset, dictating the tempo with incisive play that constantly troubled the Chinese Taipei defence. They broke the deadlock in the seventh minute as Karan converted India's first penalty corner of the match.
Premchand then doubled the lead with a field goal, while skipper Kushwaha added a third in quick succession to put his side firmly in control by the end of the first quarter.
India continued their dominance in the second quarter. Yadav added a fourth before Purti converted a penalty corner to make it 5-0.
Siddharth rounded off a prolific second quarter for India with another field goal right at the stroke of half-time.
However, Yong-Jyun Jhang (30th) pulled a goal back for Chinese Taipei, scoring from a penalty corner just before the hooter to make it 6-1 at the break.
India resumed with the same intensity after the break. Purti bagged his second goal from another set-piece in the 35th minute to make it 7-1.
Khan then got into the act, converting a penalty corner to extend India's lead even further.
Purti completed his hat-trick by converting another penalty corner, while Khan added his second as India went into the final quarter with a commanding 10-1 lead.
The fourth quarter saw India maintaining their relentless pressure as they remained clinical from set-pieces.
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Varinder converted a penalty corner before Siddharth scored his second goal of the match.
Yadav rounded off a fine team display with his second goal of the match.
India will play their semifinal on Friday but their opponent will be decided after the last Pool A match between Japan and Kazakhstan later on Wednesday.
