Deepika Sehrawat said India’s focus at the Asian Games is to win the gold medal and secure direct qualification for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics after scoring a record eight goals in the team’s opening match against Uzbekistan on Sunday.The 22-year-old striker produced the best-ever performance by an Indian woman in a single Asian Games hockey match as India thrashed Uzbekistan 19-0 in their Pool B opener in Kakamilgahara, Japan.Deepika scored in the 8th, 22nd, 25th, 33rd, 36th, 38th, 41st and 54th minutes as India made a dominant start to the tournament.Despite her eight-goal haul, Deepika said individual milestones were not her priority and that the team was only focused on improving with every game.“It’s been not that much a tough one. No matter what the opponent is, we are just focusing on ourselves. What we can do, changes we can do better in the next quarters, next matches,” she said after the match.She also credited her teammates for creating the penalty corner chances that helped her score.“Before the match, we talked about penalty corners, like where we finish and which angle we take. It’s all thanks to my team because they are making penalty corners, so I was there to be scoring.”Deepika said the team’s bigger goal is to finish on top of the podium.“Our main target is to win gold but for now it’s focusing on match-to-match. I want to make India proud of my team.”India, the second highest-ranked team in the competition, dominated from the start and scored eight goals in the first half before adding 11 more after the break.Midfielder Ishika Chaudhary scored a hat-trick with goals in the 11th, 42nd and 54th minutes. Lalremsiami opened the scoring in the seventh minute, while Baljeet Kaur (12th), Neha (18th), Navneet Kaur (23rd, 45th), Lalthantluangi (43rd, 51st) and Sakshi Rana (43rd) also got on the scoresheet.Deepika, who has returned from injuries earlier this year, was at the centre of India’s attack and converted multiple penalty corners during the match.The game was also a milestone for goalkeeper Savita Punia, who made her 320th international appearance to draw level with Vandana Katariya as the joint most-capped Indian woman hockey player. Savita had little work to do as Uzbekistan struggled to keep possession throughout the contest.India will play Indonesia in their second Pool B match on Monday.
