BHUBANESWAR: Hoping to recreate history after 43 years, hosts India started their Hockey World Cup campaign on a rousing note, blanking South Africa 5-0 in their opening Pool ‘C’ match at a packed Kalinga Stadium here on Wednesday.

World number five India are eyeing to reclaim the World Cup after 43 years, a title which they won only once way back in 1975 in Kuala Lumpur.

Simranjeet Singh (43rd, 46th minutes) scored a brace, while Mandeep Singh (10th), Akashdeep Singh (12th) and Lalit Upadhyay (45th) were the other goal getters for India against a South Africa, ranked 10 places below India.

The Indians toyed with the South African defence in the first quarter as they mounted numerous attacks on the opposition goal and to their credit succeeded on two occasions to take a comfortable 2-0 lead early on.

India took the lead when Mandeep scored from a rebound in the 10th minute from the hosts’ first penalty corner and doubled their lead through Akashdeep who scored after the ball fell in front of his stick from a deflection of Simranjit.

The Indians kept up the pressure on South African defence but missed several chances before Simranjeet tapped in after Mandeep dribbled past a few South African defenders to set it up for his strike mate.

Then, a diving Lalit deflected in a diagonal pass from Akashdeep before Simranjeet was once again at the thick of things, scoring his second of the day from India’s fourth penalty corner.

In the other pool match, Olympic silver medallists Belgium began their quest for a maiden men’s World Cup title with a fighting 2-1 win over minnows Canada.

Ranked third in the world, Belgium took the lead in the third minute through a fine field strike by Felix Denayer before captain Thomas Briels scored in the 22nd with a brilliant strike after he was set up by Arthur van Doren.

Canada started to find their grip on the match after half-time and pulled a goal back through Mark Pearson’s penalty corner conversion in the 48th minute but couldn’t find the leveller.

“We played a very good first half. We started positively and dominated but Canada came back strongly after half time to give us some tough time,” Briels said.

Belgium will next face hosts India on Dec 2 while Canada will be up against South Africa on the same day.

On Thursday, Olympic champions Argentina will play Spain in Pool ‘A’ while New Zealand will take on France.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2018