Asian Champions Trophy: India defeats Pakistan 4-3 to win Bronze
The Indian men’s hockey team won the bronze medal by defeating Pakistan 4-3 in the third place playoff match of the Asian Champions Trophy (ACT) on Wednesday. The Indian team was stopped from entering the finals after defeat against Japan in the semi-final match. However, Team India did not miss to capture the bronze medal by defeating Pakistan.
In the last tournament held in Muscat, India and Pakistan were joint winners. India was defeated by Japan 5-3 in the semi-finals on Tuesday. India took the lead in the first minute with the help of Harmanpreet Singh’s goal. After this Sumit (45th minute), Varun Kumar (53rd minute) and Akashdeep Singh (57th minute) scored. Afraz (10th), Abdul Rana (33rd) and Ahmed Nadeem (57th) scored for Pakistan. This was India’s second win over Pakistan in this tournament. Earlier, India defeated Pakistan 3-1 in the round robin stage. South Korea will face Japan in the final.
Defending champions and Olympic bronze medalist India suffered a 3-5 loss to Japan in the second semi-final here on Tuesday. Before the start of the match, India were considered as the strong contenders for victory, having defeated the same team 6-0 in their final round robin match. India’s win-loss record against Japan is also good but the opposing team surprised the defending champions in the semi-finals.
On Tuesday, Japan’s team looked completely changed and it started penetrating the defense line of the Manpreet Singh-led team from the very beginning. The Indian team was the biggest contender to win this tournament, but their dream was shattered.
The team of India and Japan were face to face 18 times before, out of which India won 16 matches while they lost one match and one match was drawn. Japan will take on South Korea in the title match while India will face Pakistan in the bronze medal playoff on Wednesday. South Korea beat Pakistan 6-5 in another semi-final. India finished on top in the round robin stage, remaining unbeaten.
