KUANTAN: Harmanpreet Singh was the hero as India clinched their third Junior Asia Cup hockey title with an emphatic 6-2 win over Pakistan at the Wisma Belia Hockey Stadium.
With the win, India equalled Pakistan’s record of three victories in the Cup’s eighth edition. India were also champions in 2004 and 2008 while Pakistan were winners in 1987, 1992 and 1996.
Harmanpreet was in his element, scoring all his four goals from penalty corners as India ended the tournament unbeaten. The Pakistanis had no answer to the Indians’ better positional play and also their ability to score either field or penalty corner goals.
India drew first blood after only 10 minutes with Harmanpreet firing home their first penalty corner. It was the hitman’s 11th goal of the tournament. Harmanpreet did not wait long for his 12th goal. Five minutes later, he converted another penalty corner for a 2-0 lead. Pakistan gave themselves a glimmer of hope when they managed to pull a goal back in the 28th minute through a Mohamed Yacoob penalty corner conversion. But Harmanpreet restored India’s two-goal lead when he completed his hat-trick in the 30th minute. The Indians continued to surge forward after the breather with Armaan Qureshi scoring a field goal in the 44th minute. Manpreet Singh then added the fifth in the 50th minute and Harmanpreet completed the scoring in the 53rd minute. Mohamed Yacoob scored a second goal in the 67th minute for Pakistan, but it was too little too late to save the match.