HANGZHOU, Sept 24 — The national men’s hockey team sent out an early warning of their gold-medal pursuit in the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games by hammering Thailand 9-0 in their opening Group B match at the Gongshu Canal Sports Park Stadium here, today.

The Speedy Tigers overcame stiff resistance from Thailand at the initial stage before stepping up a gear to break the deadlock through Muhammad Azrai Aizad Abu Kamal in the eighth minute.

A. Arul Selvaraj’s men then scored two more goals through Muhammad Firhan Ashari in the 21st minute and Nik Muhammad Aiman Nik Rozemi in the 30th minute for a comfortable 3-0 lead at the end of the second quarter.

The Speedy Tigers then roared to life to go 7-0 up with goals by Nik Muhammad Aiman (32nd minute), Muhammad Azrai (34th minute) and Muhamad Aminudin Mohd Zain (43rd and 45th minutes).

Abdul Khaliq Hamirin and Muhammad Amirul Hamizan Azahar completed the rout against Thailand, who are coached by South Korean Kim Jung Chul, with penalty corner goals in the 57th and 60th minutes respectively.

Arul Selvaraj was full of praise for his players for rising to the occasion.

"I cannot ask for more because this is their first match. After all, we already expected this result. Apart from the two cards shown to my players, which I believe were not their fault, I am satisfied and enjoyed this match.

"We will take it one match at a time,” he said after the game.

In the match, Faiz Helmi Jali received a green card in the 29th minute and Muhajir Abdu Rauf was shown a yellow card in the 55th minute.

The Speedy Tigers, who won silver in the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games, will face Oman in the second match at the same venue on Tuesday. — Bernama