Muscat: Sushila Chanu scored a brace as the Indian women's hockey team made a grand debut at the FIH Pro League, hammering China 7-1 in the first game of the two-leg tie here on Monday.
Chanu (47th, 52nd minutes) converted two penalty strokes while Navneet Kaur (5th), Neha (12), Vandana Katariya (40th), Sharmila Devi (48th) and Gurjit Kaur (50th) netted one each to hand India a convincing win.
China's lone goal was scored from a field effort by Xue Deng in the 43rd minute.
Read: PR Sreejesh wins World Games Athlete of the Year 2021 title
With the win, the Indian women's hockey team moved to the third position in the FIH Pro League points table, with three points and a goal difference of plus six.
The Indians got off to a flier when Navneet found the net from inside the circle in the fifth minute.
India controlled the pace of the match from there on, but a rare circle penetration from China in the 10th minute earned them the first penalty corner of the match but skipper Savita was up to the task in front of the goal to thwart the danger.