Press Trust of India
Kuantan (Malaysia,) Nov 23: Rising to the occasion with their traditional hockey play and Harmanpreet Singh’s hat-trick, India spanked Pakistan 6-2 to clinch the VIIIth Junior Men’s Asia Cup at the Wisma Belia Stadium here Sunday evening.
India started the match on a positive note and took an early lead when Harmanpreet converted a penalty corner in the sixth minute. It was his 12th goal of the tournament, but more was to follow.
India were again awarded with back-to-back penalty corners in the 13th and 14th minutes. Harmanpreet scored from one to put India in a position of strength.
Pakistan however, fought back in the 28th minute with a successful penalty corner from Yaqoob Muhammad. Soon after in the 30th minute Harmanpreet scored from another penalty corner to establish India’s two-goal supremacy. It was his second hat-trick in the tournament and he ended with 15 goals to emerge the highest scorer in the event.
The second half saw the Indian domination continue with Armaan Qureshi scoring in the 44th minute taking the score to 4-1 in India’s favour. Manpreet (Jr). scored the fifth goal for India followed by another penalty corner goal by Harmanpreet making the score 6-1.
Indian coach Harendra Singh said, “It was an exciting final and the boys displayed immaculate passion and calmness on the field. We ended up as runners-up in the Vth Sultan of Johor Cup which made it an even bigger win as we were hungry for the podium position. But then there is still scope for improvement.”
