By Asia Samachar | India |
The Indian men’s junior hockey emerged as the best in Asia when they managed to beat arch-rival Pakistan in a nail biting finals in Oman on June 1.
Pakistan marched to the finals after beating Malaysia 6-2 in the semi finals while India had outclassed South Korea with a spectacular 9-1 victory for the Men’s Junior Asia Cup 2023.
Playing in front of a near-capacity crowd at the Salalah Sports Complex, both teams looked threatening from the start but Angad Bir Singh’s strike in the 13th minute helped India get on the scoresheet, reports Olympics.com.
Araijeet Singh Hundal, India’s top-scorer at Men’s Junior Asia Cup hockey 2023 with eight goals, doubled the lead five minutes into the second quarter.
“After the 1-1 draw in the round robin stage, we were very aware of the areas we had to do well in order to beat Pakistan,” said India captain Uttam Singh, who was awarded the Player of the Match.
This was India’s fourth title at Men’s Junior Asia Cup, having won it previously in 2004, 2008 and 2015. Pakistan are the second-most successful team in the tournament with three titles but their last win came 27 years ago in 1996.
In an earlier match against Thailand, Angad Bir Singh won the Player of the Match after scoring four goals.
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