Red hot Indians continued their dominance at the 10th men’s Hockey Asia Cup tournament as they defeated Pakistan 3-1 in a Pool A match. Chinglesnsana Singh (17th minute), Ramandeep Singh (44th) and Harmanpreet Singh (45th) scored for India, while Pakistan’s lone strike came from the stick of Ali Shan in the 49th minute.
India took the lead in the 17th minute of the 2nd quarter through Chinglesnsana Singh, who scored after receiving a fine pass from Akashdeep Singh from the wide right. In the 44th minute, Ramandeep Singh doubled India’s lead with a neat deflection off Harmanpreet Singh’s fantastic cross from the middle of the pitch. India extended the lead in the very next minute from its second penalty corner through Harmanpreet Singh.
Pakistan, which looked more purposeful in the final quarter, reduced the margin in the 49th minute through Shan’s field strike.
With this win, India finished on top of Pool A with 9 points from 3 games, while Pakistan secured the second spot with 4 points.India will now play against an under-performing but dangerous South Korea in their first match of the Super 4 stage. But going by India’s performance so far – 5-1 win over Japan, 7-0 thrashing of Bangladesh and 3-1 win over arch-rivals Pakistan – they are expected to prevail over Korea with consummate ease.
