India thumped Pakistan 2-1 to claim the Men’s Junior Asia Cup hockey championship in Salalah late on Thursday.
India’s both the goals came in the first-half while Pakistan returned one goal in the second-half during the final at the Sultan Qaboos Youth Complex in front of a capacity crowd.
India pushed ahead from the start and Bir Angad Singh found the target in the 13th minute with a brilliant field goal.
Pakistan tried to build attacking moves after the goal but it was India in control.
Frequent attacks to the Pakistan D earned several penalty corners for India but Pakistan goalkeeper Mohammad Janjua and defence were on task to avoid further damage.
However, in such an attack inside the Pakistan D, India struck again.
Star player Araijeet Singh Hundal reverse loop rested on the inside roof of the Pakistan goal with no clue for the defender and goalkeeper Janjua.
In the second-half, Roelant Oltmans’ team came with more determined approach fighting hard to find a goal.
Pakistan pushed forward with every chance they got in the quarter. In the 38th minute, Basharat Ali seized on such an opportunity to net a goal for Pakistan.
With the score at 2-1, the fans of both teams cheered the players as the match turned an exciting finale.
Both teams got several more chances but the defenders and goalkeepers didn’t make any mistake to avoid any more goals.
In the end, the match ended 2-1 and India were crowned Men’s Junior Asia Cup 2023 champions for the fourth time in their history.
Pakistan on the other hand completed their ninth appearance in this tournament having won it three times in the past and taking the second place for the fourth time in their history.
Player of the match was India’s captain, Uttam Singh, who led his team to their fourth championship.
Among the individual awards, Pakistan’s Abdul Shahid was selected as the player of the tournament while India’s Shashikumar Mohith Honnenahalli won the best goalkeeper award.
Pakistan’s Abdul Rehman, who scored nine goals, became the leading scorer as his teammate Ahtisham Aslam grabbed the rising players of the tournament award.
SOUTH KOREA FINISH THIRD
Earlier, South Korea claimed the third place after they edged Malaysia 2-1 in the play-off for the third-fourth place.
In an evenly-fought match, South Korea went ahead in the 22nd minute when Dohyun Lim found the target from a penalty corner.
After four minutes, Malaysia hit the equaliser through a field goal from Ashraf Adam.
The score remained at 1-1 at the half-time.
In the second-half, both goalkeepers put up some splendid saves to keep the scoreline intact.
However, in the 37th minute, South Korea’s Seungho Yoo breached the Malaysian defence to score past goalkeeper Mohammad Rafaizul and earn a 2-1 lead for the Koreans.
In counter-attacks, Malaysia did not leave any opportunity where they could enter the circle and shoot at the goal but could not find the target.
The team led by Amin Rahim pushed for an equaliser in the final quarter but South Korea goalkeeper Seyeon Kim and their defence stood tall to deny the Malaysians.
Seungho Yoo, who scored the important goal for South Korea, became the best player of the match.
Japan finished fifth ahead of Bangladesh and hosts Oman took the seventh spot ahead of Thailand.
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