India continues winning streak in Jr. Men’s Asia Cup, beat Malaysia 5-4

Kuantan, Malaysia : India made a valiant comeback in the second game of the 8th Junior Men’s Asia Cup against host Malaysia to register a 5-4 win over the host nation in their second group stage match. With this win India rises to the top of the table with two straight wins and will play China in their last encounter of the group stage on 17th November 2015.

Malaysia drew first blood in the game with an opening minute field goal leaving India on the back foot in the beginning of the half. India however came back strongly to level 1-1 within 10 minutes of the first half through forward Mandeep Singh. The first half saw both the teams pressing hard until Malaysia scored again to take the lead in the 25th minute. The half ended with the score still at 2-1 in favour of Malaysia.

The Second half started with India again conceding a penalty corner to Malaysia but it was bravely saved by Indian goalkeeper Suraj Karkera. The save started the turnaround for India in the match with Gurjant Singh scoring the second goal for India levelling the score to 2-2. With 23 minutes left in the game, the Indian forwards pressed hard on the Malaysians and their efforts were duly rewarded with two back to back penalty corners, one of which was beautifully converted by Harmanpreet Singh to give India the much needed lead for the first time in the game. Another streak of consecutive penalty corners within seven minutes resulted in India converting another one through Harmanpreet Singh and taking India’s lead to 4-2. Mandeep Singh’s goal shortly after ensured India’s comfortable three goal lead as the score stood at 5-2. However the Malaysians thereafter pressed hard and succeeded twice to break through the Indian defence to score two consecutive goals in the dying moments of the game taking the score to a close 4-5, with India still in the lead. The Indian colts thereafter made no errors and earned their second consecutive victory in the 8th Junior Asia Cup.

Coach, Indian Junior Men’s Hockey team, Harendra Singh said, “It was a very good effort by the team. The boys showed impeccable attacking ability by putting 5 goals past the opponents. The defence was tested to such an extent for the first time in the tournament and it was a narrow escape. We will take the positives out of the game and work hard on deriving a balance between attack and defence.”

The 8th Junior Asia Cup will be played from the 14 – 22 November 2015 at the Wisma Belia Hockey Stadium in Kuantan, Malaysia. One of the elite Asian tournaments, the 8th Junior Asia Cup will see the top eight Asian hockey powerhouses playing for supremacy. India is placed in Pool A with Malaysia, Japan and China.