Asian Champions Trophy Hockey: Day-5 roundup – Indian Men and Women face defeat

Manpreet Singh of India

Indian women were unable to continue their winning streak against the hosts Japan in their third and final league match of the tournament.

In the first half of the match, the Indians got a good start. In the 33rd minute of the first-half, India got a penalty corner which was successfully converted into a goal by Chanchan Devi. Indians were ahead of the Japanese score by 1-0 at the end of first-half.

The Japanese side got three golden opportunities in the form of penalty corners but the Indian defence was pretty strong to be penetrated by the hosts.

The Indians continued their dominance on the field in the second-half also. But the things changed dramatically in the last 11 minutes of the game. It was Arai Mazuki who scored a goal for Japan in the 59th minute of the match to level the score 1-1. Fortunate Japan got a penalty corner in the 68th minute and Otsuka Shiho made no mistake to cash this golden opportunity in favour of Japan to make the score 2-1 and bag the match in Japan’s favour.

After this defeat, Indian women finished at second spot in the table with Japan as the topper. India and Japan will now meet in the Final on Saturday, 9th November, 2013 at the Green Stadium in Kakamigahara, Japan.

In the other women’s match played on Thursday, China faced defeat against the Malaysian girls by 1-0. After a goalless first-half, Malaysian side scored the only goal of the match in the second-half to register victory against the Chinese opponents.

On the other side, the young and inexperienced Indian Men’s Hockey side faced defeat against the defending champions Pakistan on Thursday. The Indian boys fought well but ultimately it was Pakistan to clinch the close encounter by 5-4.

Pakistan opened their scorecard too early as Adbul Haseem Khan scored a field goal for his side in the 2nd minute. Indians equalized the score with Gurjinder Singh’s goal in the 24th minute. In the 30th minute, Amit Rohidas scored another goal for the Indian side to give a lead by 2-1. At the end of the first-half, Pakistan was successful in leveling the score 2-2 when Mohammad Imran converted a penalty corner into goal in the 35th minute.

In the second-half of the match, Pakistan men were too quick to score their third goal as Mohammad Rizwan scored a brilliant goal in the 36th minute. 4 minutes later, Indian skipper Manpreet Singh leveled the score 3-3 in the 40th minute. In the 44th minute, Mohammad Rizwan scored his second goal of the match to make it 4-3 on the board in Pakistan’s favour.

Malak Singh scored a goal in the 49th minute to level the score once again. Mohammad Rizwan Junior from Pakistan scored the final goal of the match in the 53rd minute. No other goal was scored in the last 17 minutes of the game. Pakistan won the encounter by 5-4 to register their fourth consecutive victory in the tournament.

Indian Men will be up against Malaysia in their final league match of the tournament on Friday.

In the other two matches played on Thursday, Malaysian men defeated China by 5-4 whereas hosts Japan crushed Oman comfortably by 4-0. Japanese men were ahead in the match by 1-0 after the first-half and scored three goals in the next half to seal the victory by 4-0.

On Friday, China will be facing Oman while Japan will be locking horns with defending champions Pakistan in their last league matches of the tournament.