India pound Singapore, reach Jr Asia Cup Hockey semis

India squandered penalty corners galore but still pumped in three goals in each half to blank Singapore 6-0 and set up a semifinal clash with arch-rivals Pakistan in the 6th Junior Asia Cup hockey tournament on Monday in Hyderabad.

Drag-flicker Diwakar Ram (31st,64th,67th minutes) struck three goals alone, while Roshan Minz (25th), SV Sunil (26th) and Gurwinder Singh Chandi (61st) too sounded the board.

In a Pool B match, Pakistan came back from a halfway 1-2 deficit to thrash Bangladesh 8-2 and finish second in the group which pitted them against defending champions India in the semifinals.

With Monday's resounding win, India topped Pool A, while South Korea led Pool B after crushing Oman 11-0.

Japan beat Malaysia 3-1 on Monday and they will meet Korea in the other semifinal on Wednesday.

Though India did not break a sweat against lowly Singapore, their poor penalty corner conversion would remain a woe for coach AK Bansal. The hosts got as many as 13 penalty corners but could convert only three.

After two penalty corners went abegging and Singapore's goalkeeper Maheshwaran Thanagopal came up with some stunning saves, India finally opened the account through Roshan Minz's 25th minute goal and in the next minute, it was Sunil's turn to get into the scorer's sheet.