India defeat Pakistan 4-2 on penalty shoot-outs to lift inaugural Asian Champions Trophy in China
India defeated the 2010 Asian Games Champions, Pakistan by 4-2 on penalty shootouts after a nerve-racking final to lift the inaugural title of the Asian Champions Trophy played in Ordos, China on Sunday, September 11.
The match was played in a very competitive environment where both teams fought very hard while the Greenshirts dominated for most of the time by controlling the ball throughout the match. They earned seven penalty corners but remained unlucky to convert
those into goals. However, the match remained a goalless draw after 70 minutes of play and even an extra time of 15 minutes could not decide the winner before the game went on penalties.
The Indians found the Pakistani net four times with Danish Mujtaba, Yuvraj Walmiki, Sarwanjit Singh and the skipper Rajpal Singh whereas the Greenshirts could only manage to score strikes by Mohammad Rizwan and Mohammad Wasim while Shafqat Rasool and Haseem
Khan missed their chances.
Khwaja Junaid, the manager of the Pakistan national hockey side stated that the Greenshirts really deserved the victory as they played in the final.
“There was a clear factor of misfortune. We deserved to win because we kept India under pressure throughout the match,” Khwaja Junaid, the manager of the national hockey team, stated his views after the match to The Express Tribune.
However, the former Olympian looked pleased and satisfied with the team’s performance throughout the entire tournament.
Junaid also commented that in a final any team can win, but the main focus for them is that the team managed to get to the finals and put in a brilliant performance.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) also looked convinced with the performance of Pakistan’s young side in the event.
Rana Mujahid, the Associate Secretary of PHF stated that for Pakistan to lose in a penalty shootout is not a real cause for concern.
Mujahid further stated that the PHF would gauge their decision of not selecting the seniors in the team for the event after getting the full tour report by the team management.
Another former Olympian, Flying Horse Samiullah Khan, also looked satisfied and convinced with Greenshirts’ show in the event and stated that the result clearly showed that the team worked very hard and performed much better as compared to their previous
recent encounters.
The Pakistan team put in a tremendous performance as the inexperienced players managed to get the young squad into the finals of the exciting tournament. Although, losing to penalty strokes to India in the final, the Pakistan team has proven their competitiveness
and return to form in hockey.
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