Chennai: In a contest that went down the wire, India, shot into the lead, trailed 1-3, came back strongly to defeat a spirited Malaysia by the odd goal in seven--4-3--to lift the Asian Championship Trophy Hockey title for the fourth time in front of a packed stadium here on Saturday night.
The title win will augur well for India's preparations for the Asian Games at Zhanghou in China, which will further boost the confidence of the home team to focus on the Asian games.
Thanks to Sukhjeet's target that fetched India the winning goal after being at the receiving end for most part of the first two quarters, the fans went crazy in the stands as the final hooter went off.
"What a night, what a win for Team India! They came back from being two goals down to win this 4-3! Celebrations in the Indian camp after a madcap final 16 minutes of the game where it scored three goals, including two in the space of 30-odd seconds", fans said, after enjoying the every moment of this contest, that went down the wire.
It was a match in which the Malaysians, having worked out their strategy well, packed their defence and never gave a leeway for the Indians to cut through.
The visitors had the better of exchanges and dominated the proceedings with quick interceptions and short passes to keep the Indian forwards at bay.
The errors by the Indian defenders in interceptions also added to the problem.
But it was the Indians, much against the run of play forged into the lead when Jugraj Singh, despite the skipper Harmanpreet Singh not on the field, found the target with a penalt corner, with a superb drag flick to the right of the Malaysian custodian.
After this seventh minute goal in the first quarter, the visitors did not relent, packed more punch in the attack, made inroads, but could not find the target.
After resumption in the second quarter, Malaysia, went all out in the attack pumping in two goals in quick succession to take a 3-1 lead.
The equaliser came from good work done by Azuan Hasan, who won the possession back outside the circle pierced through the baseline, and relayed it to Azrai in the goalmouth who found the target to make it 1-1.
However, two minutes later, India were in for a shock as Malaysia found the lead (2-1) after which the home team forced two penalty corners but could not make it fruitful.
Malaysian defender Shello managed to force a short corner and Razie Rahim from the second battery fired his dragflick, with the ball deflecting into the goal post of an Indian derfender's stick and went into the roof of the net, stunning the packed crowd at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium, as the pulsating contest was watched by Union Sports and I and B Minister Anurag Thakur and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K.Stalin after launching the contest jointly.
After a stick check inside the striking area, India got a penalty corner but Jugraj's dragflick went wide.
The lead swelled for Malaysia in the next two minutes (3-1) in a counter attack. Azrai glided across the turf with the ball, dribbled past three Indian players, but was checked by Amit inside the circle.
Malaysia calls for a review and TV umpire says its a bodycheck and awarded a short corner to Malaysia. PC from Shello is blocked, before Rahim found the target.
However, egged on by the crowd, Indians came back strongly in the next two quarters, before hammering the final nail in the closing stages of the last quarter to ensure the fourth title win. (UNI)
