Hosts India made an awesome begin at the 2018 Men's Hockey World Cup in Bhubaneswar with a marking 5-0 win over South Africa in their Pool C opener match on Wednesday. From Indian side Simranjeet Singh scored two goals, while Lalit Upadhyay, Akashdeep Singh and Mandeep Sing slammed a goal each to fashion India's terrific win.

With the big hope to recreate history after 43 years, hosts India started their hockey World Cup campaign on a exciting note, defeating South Africa 5-0 in their opening Pool C match in front of a jam-packed Kalinga Stadium on Wednesday.

The Indians toyed with the South African defense in the first quarter badly as they mounted several attacks on the opposition goal and to their credit succeeded on two occasions to mark a comfortable 2-0 lead early on.

The Indian side kept up the pressure on South African defence in the second quarter but not successful to score a goal. Leading by a comfortable two goals, Indians continued in the same vein after the change of ends.

India scored three fine field goals in a span of four minutes to take the match out of South Africa's hand.

India will next cross the swords world number 3 Belgium on December 2, while South Africa will be up in opposition to Canada on the same day.