Men's Olympic Qualifiers -- India hit France for a six!

The much maligned Sandeep Singh, who is as much in the news for his defensive deficiencies as for his prowess from set pieces, again rose to the occasion with his second hat-trick as India downed tricky Francefor a convincing 6-2 win in a men’s Olympic qualifiers pool match at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhitonight. The winners led 3-1 at the breather.

The strapping Sardar netted twice from penalty corners and once from the spot. Shivendra Singh opened the account in the 4^th minute while the fleet footed S V Sunil and Tushar Khandekar made the issue safe in the second session.

France reduced the margin via two of their three penalty corner awards through Lucas Sevestre at the dot of half time and Fabien Manger later. ‘Les bleus’ had their moments under the floodlights with some good penetrations into the Indian circle but Bharat Chhetri brought off a few saves to snuff out their ambitions.

With this third win in a row, India (9 points) zoomed to the top of the table and now look good for a spot in the final. Canada, France and Poland (6 points each) are also in contention.

The French sparkled in bursts like vintage wine but the ‘curry kings’ were piping hot today and looked in no mood to settle for lesser spoils. The hosts set up a scorching pace from the very outset and unleashed some lightning attacks as if to prove the adage that attack is the best form of defense. And in the end it proved a successful tactic.

India rocked the French fortress with two quick strikes through Shivendra Singh and drag flicker Sandeep Singh inside ten minutes. Yuvraj Walmiki then fluffed a sitter or Indiacould have been sitting on a 3-0 lead a minute later. But Sandeep converted a penalty stroke in the 30^th minute after man of the match S V Sunil was felled following a rampaging attack along the right flank.

Sevestre’s goal brought France back into contention but Sandeep came to the rescue by converting India’s third penalty corner two minutes after resumption. From then it looked like an Indian victory was never in doubt.

Earlier, Canada whipped Singapore 15-1 while Poland routed Italy 7-2.