Olympic bronze medallist India began its FIH Pro League Hockey campaign with a bang as it thrashed France 5-0 in a thoroughly dominant display here on Tuesday.
After a barren first quarter, India slammed home three goals in the second before finding the target twice in the third.
India got four penalty corners in the match from which it scored two. France got three PCs but wasted all of them.
Harmanpreet Singh and Varun Kumar scored from penalty corners in the 21st and 24th minutes before Shamsher Singh made it 3-0 in the 28th minute with a field goal.
Mandeep Singh (32nd) and Akashdeep Singh (41st) completed the tally for India.
Playing in its first match of the year, World No. 3 India took some time to settle down in the first quarter.
But once it got a measure of its opponent, the Manpreet Singh-led side upped the ante and dominated the remaining three quarters.
India faces host South Africa in its second match on Wednesday.
The result:
India 5 (Harmanpreet 21-pc, Varun 24-pc, Shamsher 28, Mandeep 32, Akashdeep 41) bt France 0.
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