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India

ERROL D'CRUZ

PUNE: A record set by Dhyan Chand's legendary Indian hockey team at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic Games could well be dead and buried.

The largest international men’s victory — a 24-1 rout of the United States — has been eclipsed twice over in the Pan American Games hockey tournament now under way in Santo Domingo.



Just as 71 years ago, it’s the hosts that suffered such mortification. The aggressors, stepping into the boots of The Wizard’s band, have been Argentina. Led by the scoring feats of the dynamic Jorge Lombi, the favourites bombarded The Dominican Republic 30-0 last Saturday.



Lombi scored nine goals in the massacre and the poor Dominicans were to suffer yet again.



This time at the hands of Chile who slammed 25 without reply against the hosts on Sunday.



The FIH is obliged to accept the results as official as the Pan American Games will qualify the winner automatically for the Athens Olympics.



In 1987, the FIH did not accept as official the largest international victory, at any level.



The result: Pakistan 55 Macau 0! That happened in Karachi in 1987 at a junior tournament. The FIH's reasons for downplaying the scoreline is still obscure. But it is believed that Macau fielded players not quite 15 years of age in an under-21 tournament. The S Koreans who played Macau later beat them 30-0!

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