India wins second hockey title at home, becomes champion of Asian Champions

India created history at Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium in Chennai on Saturday by winning Hero Asian Champions Trophy title at home. The only title India had won earlier at home was the Asia Cup in 2007 in the same city (Chennai).
Today, in a cliffhanger India overcame 1-3 deficit to defeat spirited Malaysia 4-3 to win its fourth Asian Champions Trophy title. Defending champions Korea finished fourth after it was beaten 3-5 by the Asian Games champion Japan in the bronze medal match.
Malaysians were a heartbroken lot as their hopes of winning their maiden continental hockey title slipped out of their grasp in the second half of a grueling final. Malaysia finished with a silver.
For India, Singhs turned Kings as all four goal scorers –  Jugraj Singh 9th minute, Harmanpreet Singh 45th minute, Gurjant Singh 45th minute and Akashdeep Singh 56th minute – come from Punjab.
India started well taking the lead in the ninth minute with young Jugraj Singh with his lethal strike from a penalty corner put the home team ahead. Stung by the reverse, Malaysians went all out in attack. Their repeated offensive moves had the Indian defence under pressure. It wilted too. Twice in the first half when Azrai Abul Kamal in the 14th minute with a splendid opportunist goal put the teams at level. Four minutes later, when Malaysia forced a penalty corner, Rahim Razie made no mistake with a superb drag flick that beat the Indian defence.
Malaysians continued their offensive which paid rich dividends. In the 28th minute, they consolidated their lead further with Mohammad Aminudin scoring from a penalty corner. There was silence in the stands as the home team supporters were expecting a repeat of the earlier group match in which India had won hands down with an impressive 5-0 win. However, the situation looked different with the visitors leading 3-1 at the breather.
After a change of ends, the struggle for supremacy continued with Malaysians sitting pretty.
An Indian blitzkrieg in the 45th minute had the fans on the edge of their seats as Harmanpreet Singh converted a penalty stroke following a penalty corner. And before the roar of the second Indian goal could die, Gurjant scored a gem of a field goal in the same minute to put India at par with the Malaysians. Once parity had been restored, a rejuvenated Indian team went all out into attack.
Four minutes before the final whistle, it was Akashdeep Singh, one of India’s top field scorers, who foxed the Malaysian defence to score the match-winner. A brilliant move that was taken to its logical conclusion by Akashdeep to give India its second title triumph at home.
Harmanpreet Singh emerged as the top scorer of the tournament with eight goals to her credit. India, the only unbeaten team in the tournament, also had the distinction of scoring a maximum number of goals of 25.
Earlier, Japan took full measure of Korea to win the bronze. Ooka Ryoma had given the Japanese the lead in the third minute while Kato Ryosei followed it with another brilliant field goal in the 9th minute and before the teams broke for an interval,  Fukuda Kentaro added yet another goal. In the last quarter, Yamada Shota’s 53rd minute and Nagayoshi Ken’s 56th minute completed the tally for Japan. Incidentally, five goals scored by Japan were field goals. For Korea Jang Jonghyun with two penalty corner conversions in the 15th and 33rd  emerged as the second top scorer. The third Korean goal was scored by Park Cheoleon in the 26th minute.

Prabhjot Singh