Just saw the news about our Indian U-18 men's hockey team and wow,what a performance . A 13-1 win against Chinese Taipei is not small thing ah .
This was their final Pool A match in the U-18 Asia Cup 2026 happening in Kakamigahara,Japan . And with this massive victory,they have now secured a spot in the semifinals. That's what you call statement win.
The team finished their pool matches with nine points total,which is great considering they had one loss to Japan earlier . But this match against Chinese Taipei was something else entirely.
And one player,Ashish Tani Purti,was just on another level . He scored a full hat-trick with goals in the 27th,35th,and 42nd minutes. Amazing skill on display .
But it was not just him only . It was proper team effort with Gazee Khan,Siddharth Ben,and Rahul Yadav also scoring two goals each. This shows the attacking depth we have.
Honestly,this kind of offensive pressure from start to finish is exactly what you want to see from a young team.
They started match with full force,scoring four goals in just first quarter . Karan Gautam opened the scoring in seventh minute from a penalty corner,and then Premchand Soy and captain Ketan Kushwaha also added goals. Chinese Taipei did score one goal just before halftime,but our boys were just unstoppable .
Few things that really stood out:
- Ashish Tani Purti was the star with fantastic hat-trick .
- team's aggressive start set the tone with four goals in the first quarter.
- India has now sealed its semifinal spot with this huge 13-1 victory.
The second half was just more of the same dominance . They kept the pressure on,and Purti completed his hat-trick while Khan added his two goals. They were just relentless .
Now they are heading into semifinals with so much confidence . After a win like this,the morale must be super high. Just hope they can keep this same energy for the tougher matches ahead…
