India hockey team came back from two goals down to beat Malaysia 4-3 on Saturday to become the Asian Champions Trophy champions. With this victory, Harmanpreet Singh’s team presented a solid proof of their preparations for the Hangzhou Asian Games.
Turn around in 16 minutes: India were trailing 1-3 till the last minute of the third quarter. After this, he did not take long to turn the match in the last 16 minutes. India scored two goals within 30 seconds. Then took a decisive lead in the last quarter.
Jugraj opened the account: Jugraj Singh opened the account for India by scoring a goal in the ninth minute. Apart from them, Harmanpreet Singh (45th minute), Gurjant Singh (45th minute) and Akashdeep (56th minute) scored. Abu Kamal Azrai (14th minute), Rahim Raji (18th minute) and Aminuddin (28th minute) scored for Malaysia.
Two goals in the first quarter: Malaysia adopted the strategy of creating pressure at the start of the game. After their star player Ajrai failed to make a dent in the Indian goal in the first minute, the Indian team soon found the rhythm and earned a penalty corner in the eighth minute, which was converted by Jugraj. Ajrai (14th minute) equalised for Malaysia. Malaysia scored two goals in the second quarter to take a 3-1 lead. In the closing moments of the third quarter. Herman tied the score at 3–3.
Indian team remained unbeaten: The Indian team remained unbeaten throughout the tournament. He won six out of seven matches and played one draw. The Indian team scored 29 goals in the tournament and conceded 12. On the other hand, the Malaysian team lost two and won five of the same number of matches. The runner-up team scored 21 goals and conceded 13.
Japan in third place:Japan took third place after defeating defending champions South Korea 5–3. Seryoma Oka (3rd minute), Ryoshi Kato (9th), Kentaro Fukuda (28th), Shota Yamada (53rd) and Ken Nagayoshi (58th) scored for Japan.
