Active Stocks
Thu Mar 28 2024 15:59:33
  1. Tata Steel share price
  2. 155.90 2.00%
  1. ICICI Bank share price
  2. 1,095.75 1.08%
  1. HDFC Bank share price
  2. 1,448.20 0.52%
  1. ITC share price
  2. 428.55 0.13%
  1. Power Grid Corporation Of India share price
  2. 277.05 2.21%
Business News/ Industry / Media/  India beats Pakistan to win Asiad hockey gold, books Olympics berth
BackBack

India beats Pakistan to win Asiad hockey gold, books Olympics berth

India edged out Pakistan 4-2 in the penalty-shoot out after the teams were tied at 1-1 in full time

India’s men’s hockey team won its third Asian Games gold medal on Thursday defeating arch-rivals Pakistan in the final. Photo: AFPPremium
India’s men’s hockey team won its third Asian Games gold medal on Thursday defeating arch-rivals Pakistan in the final. Photo: AFP

New Delhi/Incheon: India’s men’s hockey team beat Pakistan in a penalty shoot-out on Thursday to win gold medal in the Asian Games after 16 years and earn a direct entry into the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

The arch-rivals played out a 1-1 draw in regulation time before Indian goalkeeper Parattu Shreejesh became his side’s saviour by saving two of Pakistan’s four penalty attempts.

India put in four goals past Pakistan’s Imran Butt to win the shoot-out 4-2 and clinch their third Asiad gold medal.

India and Pakistan contested their first head-to-head final in the Asian Games after a long gap of 32 years. India’s previous two golds in the men’s hockey event have come in Bangkok on two separate occasions—1966 and 1998.

In a tense penalty shootout, India opened the scoring through Gurwinder Singh Chandi. Indian goalkeeper Shreejesh then turned hero, blocking the Pakistan attempt to keep India in the lead. Rupinder Pal Singh doubled India’s advantage, by putting his attempt past Pakistan goalkeeper Irfan Butt. Mohammad Waqas then cut India’s advantage down by a goal, by finishing his attempt. In the fifth stroke, Manpreet Singh missed, but India still held the advantage at 2-1. Pakistan then missed their third shot, with Shreejesh ushering the ball out of play. Birendra Lakra then stepped up when it mattered, calmly putting the ball past an advancing Butt to make it 3-1. While both teams scored their remaining shots, there was only one winner.

Earlier, in a closely-fought encounter, Pakistan hit the ground running from the very start, after Mohammad Rizwan opened the scoring in the 2nd minute. While India kept searching for the equalizer during the course of the quarter, it took them 28th minutes to find one through Kothajit Singh.

Some 4,000 fans, including Games competitors from both nations, packed the Seonhak hockey stadium to witness the first India-Pakistan Asiad final in 32 years.

The defeat prolonged the misery for defending champions Pakistan, who failed to qualify for this year’s World Cup and now face a hazardous qualification road to Rio.

The match did not live up to its hype as both teams missed scoring opportunities, especially India who had the better of the exchanges in three of the four quarters.

Earlier, South Korea won the bronze medal with a 3-2 win over Guangzhou silver-medallists Malaysia, with three of the five goals coming through penalty strokes.

Jang Jong-Hyun scored twice for the hosts to finish as the leading scorer of the competition with nine goals.

Jang opened the scoring with a penalty corner in the 19th minute and Kim Young-Jin increased the margin with a field goal at the end of the second quarter.

Malaysia, who lost to Pakistan via the shoot-out in the semi-final, reduced the margin early in the third quarter when Muhammad Razie converted a penalty stroke.

Jang made it 3-1 in the 44th minute with a penalty stroke, but Razie scored for Malaysia a minute later, also with a penalty stroke.

Korean coach Shin Seok-kyu said winning a bronze after drawing a blank in Guangzhou was like a gold medal for his young team.

“Our target before the tournament was to win the gold so the players were obviously very disappointed," said Shin. “But I told them this medal was as good as winning the gold.

“I am quite happy with today’s result. We have to look forward now and prepare for the future."

AFP contributed to this story.

Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!

Catch all the Industry News, Banking News and Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.
More Less
Published: 02 Oct 2014, 05:17 PM IST
Next Story footLogo
Recommended For You
Switch to the Mint app for fast and personalized news - Get App