Moqi (China), Sep 17 Jugraj Singh's lone goal late in the fourth quarter helped India overcome a fighting effort from host China to retain the title in the Men's Asian Hockey Champions Trophy at the Moqi Training Base, Hulunbuir (China) on Tuesday.
Jugraj struck against the run of play in the 51st minute for a fine field goal that proved to be decisive in a match in which the defenders and goalkeeper Krishan Bahadur Pathak saved India the blushes against a team that was making a rare appearance in a final.
With this, India won the Men's Asian Champions Trophy for the fifth time and are now the most successful nation in the competition that was introduced in 2011. Pakistan have won the title thrice while South Korea bagged their lone crown in 2021 in Dhaka. India won the title in the last edition played in Chennai in 2023, beating Malaysia 4-3 in the final.
However, on Tuesday, things were not at all easy for the Paris Olympic Games bronze medallist as China rode on the staunch home support from the capacity crowd to put the eight-time Olympic gold medallists under tremendous pressure.
But Harmanpreet Singh's team absorbed the pressure and scored the goal late in the fourth quarter to seal victory.
The winner came in the sixth minute of the fourth quarter when Harmanpreet made a fine run to the backline off a long corner and sent in a minus-pass to Jugraj, who was left unmarked in the middle of the shooting circle. The defender kept his nerve and slotted the ball past the Chinese goalkeeper to score a rare field goal for himself.
China had dominated possession 66-34 per cent but the Indians made more circle penetration and earned more penalty corners as they kept the Chinese players at bay. The first three quarters of the match were goalless as both teams made several attempts but could not score a goal.
--IANS
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