Hulunbuir: Defending champions India scored a hard fought 1-0 win over hosts China to claim their fifth Hero Asian Champions Trophy hockey title here on Tuesday. It was a tough fight for the Paris Olympics bronze medallist as they failed to break the Chinese defence in the first three quarters.
Defender Jugraj Singh came to the rescue and scored a field goal in the 51st minute to hand his team the title.
Earlier in the day, Pakistan defeated Korea 5-2 to claim the third spot in the six-team competition.
India’s road to victory started with China and ended with a win over China in the final as they claimed their fifth Hero Asian Champions Trophy title. In between India dominated their other opponents and won all their matches.
The Harmanpreet Singh-led team toiled for three quarters before Jugraj shot home in the 51st minute and it was the only goal of the match.
China fought hard and was playing in only its second international tournament final.
It was a tight match even though India had more scoring chances. The Chinese defended well and also troubled their rivals with counter attacks. Raj Kumar Pal had the first shy at the goal for India but his effort was saved by Chinese goalkeeper.
Raj Kumar earned India’s first penalty corner in the 10th minute with some brilliant stick work, which resulted in another penalty corner but skipper Harmanpreet was off target with the second try.
Seconds from the end of the first quarter, India conceded a penalty corner but Krishan Bahadur Pathak was alert in front of the goal.
Again in the second quarter India enjoyed most of the possession and China again relied on counters. The hosts didn’t panic and it helped them and they also exerted pressure.
In the 27th minute, Sukhjeet Singh secured a penalty corner but Harmanpreet’s attempt hit the post. China had done enough to hold India goalless at half time.
China secured their second penalty corner in the 38th minute but the Indians defence held on. The Chinese continued to attack, earning back-to-back penalty corners in the 40th minute but India goalkeeper Pathak saved the day.
The young Indian forward line did play well but failed to find the target. It required a brilliant burst from Harmanpreet to finally break the deadlock.
The in-form India captain sneaked into the Chinese circle and neatly passed the ball to fellow defender Jugraj, who pushed it past the opposition goalkeeper, as India heaved a sigh of relief.
China withdrew their goalkeeper for an extra field player four minutes from the hooter, but the Indians managed to stay ahead and defended in numbers to emerge champions.
