SALALAH (Web Desk) – The Pakistan junior hockey team put up a good fight but lost in a hard-fought Junior Hockey Asia Cup final against arch-rivals India in Salalah, Oman on Thursday.
India started strongly with Angad Bir Singh in the 13th minute of the first quarter. In the 20th minute, Araijeet Singh Hundal made it 2-0 for his side.
India were 2-0 up at halftime, but Pakistan fought back, as they had done throughout the tournament, and Basharat Ali scored a goal for Pakistan in the third quarter.
Pakistan also dominated possession in the fourth quarter and had many chances to score on penalty corners but failed to convert them.
India defended well and ensured that Pakistan could not score their second goal, and they became Junior Asia Cup champions for the fourth time.
Three-time Asia Cup winners Pakistan also lost to India in the 2015 final but remained unbeaten throughout the event until the final.
Pakistan made several attempts to breach India’s defences by dribbling past their defenders and awarded penalty corners but failed to fire the ball into the nets and thus India ran away with the victory.
Heading into the blockbuster final, both India and Pakistan were unbeaten in the continental event.
The arch-rivals have so far come face to face in four Junior Hockey Asia Cup finals with India winning on three occasions – 2004, 08 and 23 – while the green shirts emerged victorious once in 1996.
Furthermore, before this year’s tournament both Pakistan were level as the joint-most title-winning sides (3) but India’s latest title victory propelled them to the record title holder of the Asian event.
Notably, the arch-rivals also came face to face in the group stage but the enthralling contest failed to conclude a result as they settled for a 1-1 stalemate.
Playing at the Salalah Sports Complex, the Pakistan team defended the Indian attack quite brilliantly in the first quarter which ended without a goal despite men in blue enjoying the bulk of possession.
India took the lead via a penalty corner with Sharad Nand Tiwari flicking the ball in the net to help his team go 1-0 before halftime.
Pakistan, however, unleashed a counterattack in the third quarter and put the Indian defence under pressure.
India won a couple of penalty corners but failed to score. Pakistan, on the other hand, equalized through Ali Basharat, who netted from a close distance to make it 1-1.
The final quarter also witnessed a see-saw contest with both teams battling for a winning goal but the deadlock persisted till the final whistle.
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