Asian Champions Trophy 2023: India registers come from behind win in title match
The Indian hockey team won the Asian Champions Trophy title being played in Chennai in a thrilling final. In the final against Malaysia, India staged a comeback from 1-3 down at one stage, scoring two goals within a minute in the third quarter. With the fourth goal in the fourth quarter Indian team won the match 4-3 and captured the Asian Champions Trophy title for the fourth time. Now India has become the country to win the Asian Champions Trophy the maximum number of times. Pakistan has won this title thrice.
Earlier India had won this trophy in 2011, 2016 and 2018. India and Pakistan were joint winners in 2018, as the final was abandoned due to rain. Team India has become the champion once again after five years. The Indian team remained unbeaten in this entire tournament. The Indian hockey team now has to participate in the Hangzhou Asian Games. In such a situation, this victory must have boosted the morale of the Indian players.
By halftime, the Malaysian team was leading 3-1. Team India fell behind after scoring the first goal of the match. Jugraj Singh scored a goal in the ninth minute to give the Indian team a 1-0 lead. However, from then on, the Indian team got derailed and Malaysia continued to counter-attack. Malaysia equalized in the 14th minute with a field goal by Azrai Abu Kamal. After this, in the second quarter, Razie Rahim scored from a penalty corner in the 18th minute and Mohammad Aminuddin scored a dragflick from a penalty corner in the 28th minute to put his team ahead 3-1 against India. India also missed a few easy penalty corners in the first two quarters.
Team India’s return in the third-fourth quarter
India made a tremendous comeback in the third quarter. Indian team scored two goals within a minute to make the score 3-3. After half-time, India continued to counter attack. It bore fruit in the 45th minute of the match, when Malaysia was fouled inside its box on India’s counter attack. On this, the referee awarded a penalty stroke to India. After this, Captain Harmanpreet Singh scored a goal to make the score 3-2. In the same minute (45th minute), Gurjant Singh made the score 3-3 by scoring a field goal on the counter attack. The Indian team scored its fourth goal in the 56th minute of the fourth quarter. Akashdeep Singh counter-attacked and scored an excellent field goal and thus Team India became the champion.
