India records 4-0 win over Pakistan to finish at top of table
India reasserted its position as the number one team in the six-nation Hero Asian Champions Trophy Hockey Tournament being played at Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday.
In its last pool game, India defeated Pakistan 4-0. The defeat means that Pakistan goes out of contention for a place in the semi-finals. It was the second defeat for Pakistan as it had lost to Malaysia in its first game. With a 2-1 win against China, it ended with five points from as many matches to finish fifth, just ahead of bottom-placed China which logged a single point.
In the knockout round, India will now take on Japan while Malaysia will play Korea.
Interestingly, India and Japan had played a 1-1 draw in the group matches while Malaysia had defeated Korea by a solitary field goal scored in the 24th minute by Azrai Abu Kamal.
All eyes were, however, focused on the last game of the day as well as the pool matches featuring two traditional rivals and neighbors – India and Pakistan. Both have won this Hero Asian Champions Trophy three times each.
It was the 60th encounter between the two South Asian hockey giants. It ended with 29th win for India. Pakistan has won 25 of the previous matches while the remaining six had ended in draws. Interestingly, India has not lost to Pakistan for a long time. In the last Asian Games, India had beaten Pakistan 2-1.
It was skipper and drag flicker Harmanpreet Singh who put the home team ahead in the 15th minute with a neat penalty corner conversion. He followed it with yet another conversion in the 23rd minute to consolidate the lead. After a change of ends, another drag flicker, Jugraj Singh, extended the home team’s lead with a neat drag flick from a penalty corner before Akashdeep Singh scored a gem of a field goal to complete the tally.
At the end of the group matches, India finished at the top with 13 points with four wins and a draw while Malaysia finished a close second with 12 points with four wins and a loss. Malaysia had lost 0-5 to India. Korea edged out Japan for the third spot with a better goal difference (-1) as it aggregated five points with a win, two draws and two defeats. Asian Games champions Japan also aggregated five points with a win, two draws and two defeats but had a lower goal difference (-2) to take the fourth spot. It was the only team to hold India to a 1-1 draw in the group matches.
Prabhjot Singh