Eindhoven, July 9 : The India A men's hockey team kickstarted their tour of Europe with a dominant 6-1 victory over Ireland at the Hockey Club Oranje-Rood.

India had a complete performance throughout the four quarters and hardly put a foot wrong. Uttam Singh opened the scoring for the men in blue and Amandeep Lakra later extended their lead. This was followed by an impressive brace by Aditya Lalage as he scored back-to-back goals.

Forwards Selvam Karthi and Boby Singh Dhami too scored a goal each to feature on the scoresheet. Ireland could only manage to score a consolation goal as India ensured they are tight with their defending.

India will next face Ireland again on July 9 as they will look for another positive result and build on their momentum in their tour of Europe. They will later play against France, England, Belgium and hosts, the Netherlands, for the next two weeks.

These matches are to test the depth and readiness of players as the national setup looks to build a stronger talent pool for the Indian senior team. With this tour, Hockey India aims to bolster the talent pool for the Indian Men's national team and provide international match time to the next generation of Indian hockey stars.

"This tour will be a good testing ground for us to know our strengths and weaknesses. We have a good mix of seasoned players and young players, and the tour will provide us with strong competition to assess where they stand. This kind of international exposure will also help us strengthen our main team in the future and create a good bench strength in the long run," captain Sanjay had said ahead of the tour.

/IANS