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New Delhi:India on Thursday won the junior men’s Asia Cup hockey title by defeating Pakistan 2-1 in Oman. With this win, India qualified for the FIH Men’s Junior World Cup in Malaysia. India has captured the Asia Cup for the fourth time. Angad Bir Singh and Arjit Singh Hundal scored the goals for India. At the same time, some brilliant saves from goalkeeper Sasikumar Mohith Honnenahalli kept India in the lead throughout the match and eventually won the final.With this win, India has created a new record of winning the most titles in the Men’s Junior Asia Cup. The team had previously won the title in 2004, 2008 and 2015, while Pakistan won the tournament in 1988, 1992, 1996.
The Junior Hockey Asian Cup is being organized after eight years. It was not organized in 2021 due to the Corona epidemic. India started on the offensive with several attacks on the Pakistan goal in the first quarter itself. Angad Bir got India the first breakthrough in the 12th minute. The Indian team kept the ball with them in the second quarter as well.
Indian players showed great game:
Arijit finished off a brilliant move by the Indian forward line with a second field goal in the 19th minute. It was his eighth goal in the tournament. Just before half-time, Pakistan’s Shahid Abdul created a golden opportunity but his shot in front of the goal was deftly saved by Indian goalkeeper Mohit HS. In the second half, the Pakistani team came back aggressively and got the advantage in the seventh minute of the third quarter.
When Shahid Abdul passed the ball to Basharat, who was standing on the right side of the goal, from inside the circle, he dodged the Indian defenders and he took the Indian goalkeeper and scored. Pakistan got a penalty corner in the 50th minute but the team could not find the equaliser. At the same time, four minutes later, two consecutive penalty corners were found but there was no success. Both India and Pakistan have been unbeatable in the tournament. The two also faced off in the league stage but that match ended in a 1-1 draw. India had topped the league stage on the basis of better goal average.
Announcement of reward for team players:
Hockey India Executive Board announced a cash prize of 2 lakh for the players and 1 lakh for the support staff. Congratulating the team, Hockey India President Padma Shri Dilip Tirkey said, “The Indian junior men’s team has done us all extremely proud with their unbeaten performance in the Junior Asia Cup.
