India hand out record hockey rout of hapless Hong Kong

JAKARTA (Reuters): India’s days of ruling the field hockey roost at the Olympics might be a distant memory, but they remain a continental power as their men’s team amply illustrated with a 26-0 hammering of Hong Kong at the Asian Games on Wednesday.

Having opened the tournament in Jakarta with a 17-0 thrashing of hosts Indonesia, reigning champions India were 4-0 up inside five minutes and kept their collective foot on the gas to register a record victory in an Asian Games match. The win also bettered India’s previous record victory – a 24-1 win over the United States at the 1932 Olympics – but was some way short of New Zealand’s 39-0 victory over Papua New Guinea at the Oceania Cup in 2007.