Pakistan shoots down India to clinch Asian Hockey Champions Trophy

After a thrilling game, Pakistan managed to beat India to clinch the title of the Asian Hockey Champions Trophy, played at the Al Rayyan Stadium, in Doha, Qatar.

It was a close match, marred by controversy in the final few minutes, with India walking off the field in protest against a penalty corner that was not given. They came back on with two minutes left in the match as Pakistan held on to secure the win.

Shafqat Rasool scored one while Mohammad Waqas and skipper Mohammad Imran scored two goals each.

Pakistan opened the scoring in the seventh minute through a penalty corner scored by Waqas, but India equalised within two minutes through SV Sunil. Raghunath then gave his side the lead in the 21^st minute as India went into half-time 2-1 up.

In the second-half, the tempo of the game was much faster with both teams creating chances and Rasool soon gave Pakistan the equaliser in the 42^nd minute.

Imran’s goal gave Pakistan the lead again but India pulled one back through Gurvinder Chandi to make the score 3-3. However, Waqas soon restored Pakistan’s lead in the 57th minute but Rupinderpal Singh scored yet another equaliser for the men in blue.

The Greenshirts were awarded a penalty corner in the 64^th minute which led to Imran scoring the winning goal. The Indian side continued attacks but Pakistan held on for the remaining couple of moments to clinch the cup.

The tournament comprised six top teams from Asia – Pakistan, China, India, Oman, Malaysia and Japan.

Pakistan thrashed Oman in their opening match 8-3, followed by a 5-2 win over China, a 3-3 draw against Malaysia and lost 2-1 to India who they had beaten to clinch the bronze medal at the Champions Trophy earlier this month in Melbourne, Australia. Pakistan brushed aside Japan 5-2 in the final pool match to set up a clash with India.

India had defeated Pakistan earlier in the tournament 2-1 on December 24, 2012. But the green shirts turned up when it required the most and clinched the title of the tournament.

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Posted by Web Desk on Dec 28 2012. Filed under Pakistan, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.