Indian hockey

India had slipped to the second spot after losing a couple of matches in London before coming back strongly to beat Belgium (5-1) and Great Britain 4-2 via a shoot-out. They started the Netherlands run with a 1-4 defeat here on Wednesday.

The win also cemented India's position atop Pool A. India finished the Pool stage of the tournament unbeaten, having won three games and drawn one. The scorers for India were Vaishnavi Vitthal Phalke (1'), Deepika (3'), Annu (10', 52'), Rutuja Dadaso Pisal (12'), Neelam (19'), Manju Chorsiya (33'), Sunelita Toppo (43', 57'), Deepika Soreng (46'), and Mumtaz Khan (55').

While Harmanpreet Singh (11') scored India's lone goal, Pepijn Reyenga (17'), Boris Burkhardt (40') and Duco Telgenkamp (41', 58') scored in the home team's victory on Wednesday night. Riding on a good outing in London last weekend, the Indian men's hockey team, placed fifth in the FIH Ranking, got off the blocks in Eindhoven establishing an early 1-0 lead in the first quarter.

The Indian team beat nemesis Pakistan 2-1 in a thrilling final match of the Men's Junior Asia Cup 2023 in Salalah, Oman on Thursday night for the title. Early goals by Angad Bir Singh (13') and Araijeet Singh Hundal (20') ensured India remained in command of the game while some outstanding saves by goalkeeper Shashikumar Mohith Honnenahalli kept India in the lead throughout the match.

This was the fourth clash between the two teams in the final of the Junior Asia Cup and the second successive after the Indians defeated Pakistan 6-2 in Kuantan, Malaysia to win the title in 2015. The event was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021. Both India and Pakistan have won the title thrice each since the event was started in 1988.

For the Indian team the scorers were Sunit Lakra (13'), Araijeet Singh Hundal (19'), Boby Singh Dhami (31', 39', 55'), Angad Bir Singh (34'), Captain Uttam Singh (38'), Vishnukant Singh (51'), Sharda Nand Tiwari (57'). Meanwhile for Korea it was Keonyeol Hwang (46') who scored the only goal.

The victory in an entertaining encounter took Great Britain to the top of the Pro League table. They now have 22 points from nine matches, five outright wins and four draws and three shoot-out bonus points, while India slipped to second position with 19 points from 10 matches with five wins, two wins in shoot-outs and three defeats.

India registered a stellar 18-0 victory over Chinese Taipei in their first Pool A match and picked up a comeback 3-1 win over Japan on Thursday with Araijeet Singh Hundal (36'), Sharda Nand Tiwari (39') and Uttam Singh (56') scoring a goal each.

India dominated Australia 'A' with high pressing in the first quarter, earning a penalty corner in the 10th minute but were unable to capitalise. The hosts then won a couple of penalty corners, but India's defence held strong to prevent them from taking the lead, and the first quarter ended goalless.

With this result, Australia sealed the three-match bilateral series 2-0, after winning the first two games 4-2 and 3-2, respectively. The Indian women will next take on Australia A in two practice matches, the first of which will be played on May 25 at Adelaide.