India complete 20-1 rout: Deepika scores record 9, but women's team misses 44-year Asian Games record

It has been an absolute goal-fest from India in women's hockey as the team consolidated its spot at the top of the Pool B table. Three matches, three wins, just two goals conceded and 58 goals scored.

The Salima Tete-led side smashed 19 goals past Uzbekistan in the opening match of their Asian Games women's hockey campaign, a win that fell short of the 44-year-old Asian Games record for the most goals scored by the Indian team in a match. They followed that up with a 17-1 win against Indonesia at the Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium in Japan.

On Wednesday, India came out all guns blazing, perhaps aiming to shatter the 1982 record set in New Delhi, when they took on Thailand in their third Pool B match. But they fell short by a whisker.

Like in the game against Uzbekistan, Deepika Sehrawat was at the centre of the goal-fest, going one better than her previous tally to score nine goals against Thailand. Navneet Kaur and Rutuja Pisal also scored hat-tricks, while Lalremsiami, Neha, Sakshi Rana and Tete got their names on the scoresheet.

India scored 22 goals and conceded one, but the scoreline fell short of the 44-year-old record yet again.

This was India's second-biggest win at the Asian Games in women's hockey, matching the 22-0 scoreline against Hong Kong in 1982. The Indian women's team now has four of the top five biggest wins at the Asian Games.

List of biggest Asian Games women's hockey wins:

India 22-0 Hong Kong, 1982

Korea 21-0 Hong Kong, 1986

India 21-0 Kazakhstan, 2018

China 20-0 Indonesia, 2023

India 19-0 Uzbekistan, 2026

India 22-0 Thailand, 2026

Deepika Sehrawat rewrites history

With eight goals scored against Uzbekistan in India's campaign opener in Japan, Deepika became the highest goalscorer in a single Asian Games women's hockey match.

On Wednesday, she cranked it up a notch, finding the net nine times against Thailand to break her own record.

She now has 20 goals in the tournament, having hit a hat-trick against Indonesia in the previous game.