India began their campaign in the Hamburg Masters, four-nation hockey tournament, on a winning note, beating Argentina 4-1 in Hamburg, Germany, on Friday.

India led 2-0 at half-time.

Dilip Tirkey, Jugraj Singh, Baljit Singh Dhillon and Gagan Ajit Singh were the scorers for India.

India, who recently won the second leg of the Hockey Australia Men's Challenge Down Under, got three of their goals from penalty-corners.

After skipper Dhanraj Pillay missed a good chance in the fourth minute Dilip Tirkey opened the account in the sixth minute when he converted a penalty-corner.

A minute earlier defender Kanwalpreet Singh was shown the green card for rough play.

It could have been 2-0 in the 12th minute but Tirkey's shot from India's second penalty-corner missed the left post by inches.

Another fine chance came India's way in the 16th minute when Pillay dribbled his way across the field and laid a pass for Prabhjot Singh, who missed the target narrowly.

But Jugraj Singh scored from India's third penalty-corner in the 26th minute to give India a 2-0 lead, his drag flick beating goalkeeper Pablo Moreira.

Argentina had a chance to pull one back a little before half-time but Matias Vila missed from his team's second penalty-corner.

Former captain Baljit Singh Dhillon made it 3-0 in the 42nd minute from India's fourth penalty-corner, his drag flick finding the roof of the net. 

Argentina pressed hard and forced two penalty-corners but goalkeeper Devesh Chauhan did well to save flicks from Jorge Lombi.

The pressure told on the Indian defence and Argentina pulled one back in the 52nd minute from their sixth penalty-corner. This tuime Carlos Retegui's drag flick beat Chauhan.

Gagan Ajit Singh rounded off the tally in the 60th minute, scoring the only field goal for India.

Coach Rajinder Singh was extremely happy with his team's performance.

"The best thing is that we are playing well consistently. There has been no let up in our performance," he said.

"We are still experimenting with our game and I am very pleased that our strategy is working.

"Our boys played dominating hockey today."

Hosts Gemany and Spain are the other two teams in the competition.