Deepika nets hat-trick as India hammer Malaysia 5-0 in Women’s Junior Asia Cup

 Defending champions India shrugged off a slow start to record a 5-0 win over Malaysia in the women’s junior Asia Cup contest with yet another impressive showing in the tournament, on Monday.

It was also India’s third straight win over Malaysia in the history of the tournament, having beaten them 9-1 in the 2015 edition and 2-1 in the 2023 iteration of the event.

Coming off a 13-1 thrashing of Bangladesh on Sunday, India were slow to start finding their goals and were also met by stiff resistance from their Malaysian counterparts.

But once India found the first breakthrough, they kept building on the advantage to produce yet another thoroughly dominating show.

Deepika (37th, 39th, 48th) was the star of India’s win as she netted a hat-trick of goals while Vaishnavi Phalke (32nd) and Kanika Siwach (38th) score one goal each.

India looked to attack from the beginning but Malaysian defense was formidable against their opponent’s advances.

India earned the first penalty corner of the game in the 10th minute but Malaysia defended well. The outcome was the same when India got another penalty corner four minutes later, as their opponents did not allow the defending champions any success for first two quarters.

However, the situation changed quickly in the third as India opened the scoring, finally breached the Malaysian defence in the 32nd minute when Vaishnavi successfully converted a penalty corner.

Deepika doubled the lead five minutes later in similar passion to put their side firmly ahead in the contest and India capitalised on the advantage of being 2-0 ahead.

Kanika took advantage of the situation as confidence eroded quickly for the Malaysian players, breaching their defence after another couple of minutes to strike India’s third goal in the contest in the 37th minute. It was the first field goal of the contest.

Malaysia’s composure was not the same as an error gave India a penalty stroke in the 39th minute for the fourth goal and she completed her hat-trick in the contest nine minutes later, when she converted her second penalty corner of the game.

Deepika’s feat also helped her become the joint highest goal-scorer in the competition with six goals so far.

The victory kept India on the second spot behind China with six points each, separated by goal difference.