Asia Cup Hockey 2017: Dominant India Beat Malaysia in Dhaka
DHAKA: India on Sunday put in yet another impressive performance by beating Malaysia 2-1 in the final to win the Asia Cup Hockey 2017 at Maulana Bhasani Hockey Stadium in Dhaka. Manpreet Singh-led India, who remained unbeaten in the tournament, started on a positive note and dominated till the very end to win their third Asia Cup title.
Lalit Upadhyay doubled India’s advantage as he scored a superb field goal in the 29th minute. Malaysia, who had lost to India 2-6 in the league match, struck back in the final quarter to reduce India’s lead but the latter managed to hold on to their advantage till the final whistle. India were off to a flyer as SV Sunil and Ramandeep Singh combined to give India an early lead in the third minute.
he Indians, ranked sixth in the world, were in for nervous last 10 minutes but the defence did enough to hold on to the lead. Pakistan won the bronze medal after edging out Korea 6-3 in the third-fourth place play-off match earlier in the day. For India’ new chief coach Marijne Sjoerd, it was perfect start to his stint as the Asia Cup was his maiden tournament in charge of the senior national side.
India, after winning back-to-back titles in 2003 and 2007 at Kuala Lumpur and Chennai respectively, have failed to add a third title. In the previous edition, India came close to achieving that feat, but lost to South Korea in the title clash in Ipoh. For the record, Koreans are the most successful side in this tournament, having won it four times in 1994 at Hiroshima, 1999 at Kuala Lumpur, 2009 Kuantan and Ipoh four years ago. Pakistan are second with three titles, winning the first three editions in 1982 at Karachi, 1985 in Dhaka and 1989 in New Delhi.
But this young Indian young side, with many of the roster coming from the Junior World Cup 2016 winning squad, has been brilliant and are the clear favourites in the final.In the last Super 4 outing, India thrashed Pakistan 4-0 to qualify as the top team. India have previously beaten their arch-rivals 3-1 in a Pool A clash.
India, however, started the Super 4s in an indifferent way, salvaging a 1-1 draw with the Koreans thanks to a last-minute goal from Gurjant Singh. But, the favourites resurrected their campaign with a 6-2 mauling of Malaysia in the next outing. Malaysia played out a 1-1 draw with the Koreans in the last Super 4 match yesterday, just after the India-Pakistan match, to book a rematch with India in the final.
They have played fearless, attacking hockey in this tournament, and have beaten Pakistan in the first Super 4 match 3-2, before losing to India. Malaysians, a proud hockey nation with many Indian and Pakistani expatriates playing their own roles, have been there on the periphery for a long time. Their finished third in the 2007 edition, which is their best effort so far. There are more than a handful fourth-place finishes for them though.
Interestingly, tournament’s two join top scorers will be seen in action today. Harmanpreet Singh and Faizal Saari are with seven goals each.(With Agency Inputs ).
