Skipper Harmanpreet Singh and Varun Kumar scored two goals each as India thrashed China 7-2 to begin their Asian Champions Trophy hockey campaign on a winning note at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium here on Thursday.

Harmanpreet (5th, 8th minutes) and Varun (19th, 30th) converted two penalty corners each for India, while Sukhjeet Singh (15th), Akashdeep Singh (16th) and Mandeep Singh (40th) were the other goal scorers.

China’s two goals came from Wenhui E (18th) and Jiesheng Gao (25th).

It took the Men in Blue just five minutes into the contest to earn a penalty corner and skipper Harmanpreet made no mistake in successfully converting it. Three minutes later, it was another penalty corner and it yielded the same result through the same man, Harmanpreet.

At the stroke of the first quarter stoppage, India received another penalty corner. Varun’s initial flick was saved by the Chinese defence but Sukhjeet scored from the rebound. Just two minutes into the second quarter, Akshdeep scored from an assist from Manpreet Singh as India went 4-0 up.

However, just a minute later, China broke free, with Varun failing to tackle an ariel ball, as Wenhui sent it past Indian goalkeeper Krishan Bahadur Pathak. But a minute later, Varun found the back of the net from a set piece.

It was not until the 25th minute that China received their first penalty corner. While the initial one was unsuccessful, the resulting corner led to Gao firing it past Pathak.

At the stroke of half-time, it was yet another penalty corner for India, with Varun shooting it into the top-right corner, as the hosts moved into the break with a 6-2 advantage.

After the change of ends, though China tried to up the ante, they gave away a couple of corners again, and the one in the 40th minute saw Amit Rohidas’s wide flick being angled in by Mandeep Singh for India’s seventh goal.

Pakistan stumble

Firhan Ashari struck twice as Malaysia defeated Pakistan 3-1 in the second game. For Malaysia, Ashari scored in the 28th and 29th minutes, while Shello Silverius found the net in the 44th minute. Pakistan’s lone goal was scored by Abdul Rehman in the 55th minute.

Defending champions South Korea beat Japan 2-1. Ryoma Oooka netted the opening goal in the sixth minute before Cheoleon Park equalised in the 26th.