JALANDHAR (TIP): The hosts and Asian Games champions India overcame a stiff resistance from China to record its second straight win in the Hero Asian Champions Trophy Hockey Tournament at Olympian Surjit Singh Stadium in Jalandhar on Thursday. India won 5-2 in a game that saw China posting both its goals through penalty corners after skipper Harmanpreet Singh and Jugraj Singh also scored three of five goals for the home team.
With its second win from as many matches, India’s position as the leader of the table remains intact while Malaysia and Japan with as many wins had to settle for second and third spots on goal difference. Earlier Malaysia beat Korea 3-1 and Japan managed to defeat Bangladesh by a solitary goal.
China after losing a close 4-5 battle to Malaysia in the opener came out with determination to display its best. Matching their opponents in every department of the game, the Chinese players defied their opponents’ room to weave out their moves for the first 10 minutes of the game before a slight lapse in concentration saw Sukhjeet Singh using the aerial route to put the home team ahead.
In a game of pulsating turns, both India and China had equal exchanges for most of the time in the first half. It was in the 26th minute that China from one of his concerted moves earned a penalty corner from which Yang Feng made no mistake to put the teams at level.
A minute later, India again took the lead, this time through a penalty corner conversion by skipper Harmanpreet Singh. After a change of ends, Harmanpreet continued from where he left at the end of the first half and scored his second successive penalty corner goal with a powerful grounder to put India 3-1 ahead.
Unperturbed by the third goal, there was no let-up in the spirit of the Chinese as they continued to play with vigor and determination.
After Harmanpreet scored his second penalty corner goal, it was Sukhjeet Singh again who once again made aerial ball a trajectory for his second goal of the game to make the score 4-1.
China retaliated. Chen Choncong had a different plan in his mind when he took a penalty corner in the 35th minute. This time he essayed a shot that beat Suraj neat and clean to make the score 2-4.
Sensing a fight back by China, India consolidated its defense, tightened man to man marking and resorted to first time clearances. This strategy helped. Two minutes into the fourth quarter, it was Jugraj Singh who scored the home team’s fifth goal to make the score 5-2 to give India its maximum of three points.
With this win, India moved to the top of the table on better goal average with a maximum of six points from two games. While Malaysia and Japan also have six points from two games each, their goal averages relegated them to second and third spots.
(Prabhjot Singh is a senior Toronto-based, award-winning independentjournalist, who worked with The Tribune, Reuters, and several media groupsin a career spanning nearly five decades. He has written extensively aboutDiaspora, Politics, Business, Aviation, Health, Public and Private Sectors andSports. He can be reached at prabhjot416@gmail.com)
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