Hulunbuir (China). The Indian hockey team, which remained undefeated in the tournament, won the Asian Champions Trophy title for the fifth time on Tuesday by defeating host China 1-0 in a tough match. No team could score a goal in the first three quarters. In the end, defender Jugraj Singh scored a field goal to give the team victory.
This match was not easy for Harmanpreet Singh’s team. In the first three quarters, the Chinese defenders did not give India any chance to score. Jugraj scored in the 51st minute for the bronze medal winning Indian team of Paris Olympics. China was playing the final of an international tournament for the second time. Earlier, it had played the final of Asian Games 2006 in which it was defeated by Korea 3-1.
Earlier, Pakistan defeated Korea 5-2 and secured third place in the six-team tournament. With this, India has become the most successful team in the history of the tournament, winning the title five times. Earlier, India had won consecutive titles in 2016 and 2018. Hockey India has announced a cash prize of Rs 3 lakh to each player and Rs 1.5 lakh to the support staff for this victory. The Indian team, which entered as a strong contender for the title, defeated China 3-0 in the first league match, but the final match was quite tough. In the first two quarters, India created many opportunities to score goals, but China was also not behind in counter-attacks. Rajkumar Pal made the first attack, which was saved by China’s goalkeeper Wang Weihao.
Rajkumar got India its first penalty corner in the tenth minute but Harmanpreet Singh could not score. Two minutes later, Wang saved Neelakanta Sharma’s shot and in the next minute Sukhjeet Singh was denied a goal. A few seconds before the first quarter, India lost a penalty corner but Krishan Bahadur Pathak was ready in front of the goal. The story was the same in the second quarter as India tried to control the ball but could not achieve success. Sukhjeet got India a penalty corner in the 27th minute but Harmanpreet’s shot hit the goalpost.
In the second half, the Chinese forward line launched continuous attacks and created a penalty corner in the 38th minute but the Indian defence was alert.
China got two consecutive penalty corners in the 40th minute on which Indian goalkeeper Pathak did not allow a goal. The architect of India’s goal was Harmanpreet who entered the Chinese circle showing great stick work and handed the ball to Jugraj who made no mistake in scoring the goal. Four minutes before the hooter, China removed its goalkeeper and brought in an additional player but could not score the equaliser.