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 24^th 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 60^th encounter between the two South Asian hockey giants. It ended with 29^th 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 15^th minute with a neat penalty corner conversion. He followed it with yet another conversion in the 23^rd 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