Agencies
Kuantan, November 23
India’s junior men’s hockey team beat Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2015 final to lift its 8th edition on Sunday. India drew first blood after only 10 minutes with Harmanpreet firing home their first penalty corner.
The match ended with India winning the trophy with a score line of 6-2. Soon after in the 30th minute Harmanpreet Singh scored from another penalty corner to complete his hat-trick. India started the second-half with the usual flair when Armaan Qureshi and Manpreet scored field goals in 44th and 50th minute respectively to consolidate India’s lead to 5-1.
Three minutes later, senior Indian worldwide Harmanpreet once again executed a flawless penalty corner conversion that made it a stunning 6-1 lead. Mohamed Yacoob scored a second goal in the 67th minute for Pakistan, but it was too little too late to save the match. Harendra Singh, chief coach of the Indian team, said: “We have faced Japan earlier and we are familiar with their game which gives us confidence”. “We ended up as runners up in the Sultan of Johor Cup which made it an even bigger win as we were hungry for the podium position”. Harmanpreet Singh became the highest scorer with his four goals in the match taking his tournament tally to 15 goals in the tournament. But Australia struck back-to-back goals in the last quarter through Jacob Whetton (47th) and Aran Zalewski (48th) to claim a well deserved victory. India are looking to win their third Junior Asia Cup to equal Pakistan’s feat. In the second half, Japan threw everything into attack in a bid to force a penalty shootout.
