Press Trust of India
Johor Bahru, Oct 15: The India junior men’s hockey team continued their winning form as they edged past hosts Malaysia 2-1 in their fourth league match of the Sultan of Johor Cup here Thursday.
India earlier defeated Argentina and Pakistan while going down to Great Britain. They dominated the match and penalty corner specialist Harmanpreet Singh’s (41st, 56th minute) two conversions helped India earn three more points. Malaysia scored in the 68th minute. With nine points, defending champions India now lead the points table, ahead of Great Britain (eight) and Argentina (seven).
India’s forward line managed to put pressure on the opponents from the very first minute. Forwards Arman Qureshi, Sumit Kumar, Gurjant Singh, Parvinder Singh and Ajay Yadav were always a threat to the opposition. But they failed to utilise the chances and the first half ended goalless.
In the 41st minute, India earned their third penalty corner and drag-flicker Harmanpreet converted it successfully. Conceding a goal, the Malaysians counter-attacked and earned a penalty corner, which was perfectly thwarted by Indian custodian Suraj Karkera. In the 56th minute, Harmanpreet again converted India’s fifth penalty corner with a rasping drive to increase the margin.