Indian Women are Asian Champions Trophy winners.

Deepika Thakur scored the winner in the dying minutes to give India a thrilling 2-1 victory over China and the Women’s Asian Champions Trophy title in Singapore. Deepika kept her cool to score barely 20 seconds to the hooter.

Earlier India began well and took the lead through Grace Ekka’s goal in the 13th minute. But the Chinese team made it 1-1 as Zhong Mengling scored in the 44th minute.

In the fourth quarter both teams tried hard for the winning goal but it was Deepika’s late strike which separated the two teams.

India beat Pakistan in a thrilling Asian Champions Trophy final

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It was the Chinese team, who broke India’s unbeaten streak at the league stage to go to the top of the table. But India exacted sweet revenge when it mattered the most.

India beat Pakistan in a thrilling final to lift the Asian Champions Trophy. Ruperpinder Pal Singh and  Affan Yousuf gave India the lead and then Nitin Thimmaiah came up with the winner in the fourth quarter of a fascinating contest. It was a double delight for the Indian fans on Diwali as India got the better of their archrivals and defending champions 3-2 in Malaysia. 

Rupinderpal Singh’s brilliant drag flick gave India the lead. Minutes later India made it 2-0, when a terrific ball from Sardar Singh found Ramandeep Singh, whose hit was deflected in by Affan Yousuf.

Pakistan fought back to level 2-2 through goals from Aleem Bilal (PC) and Ali Shaan.

India pressed hard in the fourth quarter. And in the 50^th minute Nikkin Thimmaiah fired in the winner.

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Amid the diplomatic feud between the two countries who are erstwhile hockey masters, the result of the match bore much more significance than the title. And both the teams lived up to the expectations of the highly-anticipated clash. However, it was India who started the match brightly as Pakistan looked defensive at the beginning.

Dominating the possession, Indian earn a penalty corner when Birendra Lakra played to the foot of a defender in the seventh minute. But Jasjit Singh Kular’s flick went wide of the left post.

However, Pakistan didn’t take long to get into groove and two aerial balls — one to the top of the circle and another to the left of the circle — rattled the Indian defence. But Akash Chikte, standing in for injured premier goalkeeper and captain P.R. Sreejesh, was up to the challenge.

In the second quarter, India stepped up their game and they were rewarded. Penalty corner specialist Rupinder flicked high to beat Pakistan goalkeeper Amjad Ali in the 18th minute to mark his 11th goal of the tournament.

India moved in good rhythm and Talwinder Singh could have made it 2-0 when a move created by Thimmaiah was squared to him on the left but his reverse hit went above the bar on the right, with only goalkeeper Amjad to beat.

But India found the second goal two minutes later as Yousuf deflected in from close range a Ramandeep Singh’s square pass from the right after the latter was fed by Sardar Singh few yards behind the Pakistan circle.

Pakistan hit back and reduced the gap to one when a foul by Kothajit Singh led to a penalty corner and Bilal fired a grounder to the right-bottom corner of Chikte in the 26th minute.

Eight minutes into the third quarter, Pakistan benifitted and scored their equaliser from a defensive error from India as Shan slammed past Chikte at the near post on the left in the 38th minute. Rupinder made a poor trapping at the top of the ‘D’ and the ball went behind into the path of Sardar, who made a poor clearance before Shan grabbed the opportunity.

Further drama unfolded when Ramandeep claimed to have made it 3-2 for India in the 39th minute with a close-range deflection following a drive from the top of the circle by Kothajit. But the umpire’s referral showed that neither Lalit Upadhyay nor Ramandeep touched the ball.

Pakistan enjoyed some good moments and mounted attacks but the Indian defence stood tall.

Later, India regained the lead when a fierce counter-attack led by Akashdeep Singh saw him pass to Thimmaiah on the left and the Karnataka forward sounded the board with a drive at the far post for the crucial goal in the 51st minute.

Later, Pakistan made the mess of a penalty corner opportunity when the stopper failed to trap after the push as the time ran out and India stood strong to secure the win.

“It’s always good to win against Pakistan. Most of the time we dominated but Pakistan came back. We played compact hockey as we have done throughout the tournament. It’s a great win,” Sardar said after the win.

IANS

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Akashdeep Singh and Jasjit Singh Kular scored a brace each as a ruthless India routed China 9-0 in a round-robin match to enter the semi-finals of the Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament at the Wisma Belia Hockey Stadium here on Tuesday.

India displayed technical superiority over the Chinese as they ran riot, going 4-0 up till the half-time. They scored goals through Akashdeep Singh (ninth and 39th minutes), Affan Yousuf (19th), Jasjit Singh Kular (22nd and 51st), Rupinder Pal Singh (25th), Nikkin Thimmaiah (34th), Lalit Upadhyay (37th), Devinder Walmiki (41st).

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In total, India had 24 shots at the target while China had five as Akash Chitke, standing in for India’s premier goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh had a quiet outing.

With this win, India moved to the top of the standings with 10 points from four matches. They face Malaysia in their final round-robin match that could decide the top placed team before the knockouts. The hosts have nine points from three matches and are second on the table.

Meanwhile Japan are out of the race for the semi-finals after losing four consecutive matches — the latest coming in the form of a 3-4 defeat to Pakistan. Muhammad Aleem Bilal scored a couple of penalty corner goals as Pakistan moved to the third spot of the standings.

India dominated the game from the start to the end. Such was their domination that the match was almost played in China’s half.

It took only six minutes for India to stamp their authority when Akashdeep made China pay for a poor back pass as he trapped the ball a couple of yards behind the ‘D’ before shooting past H.Y. Wang with a reverse stick.

In the second half, India upped the ante and the goals rained. The quick counter-attacking flair of the Indians came to the fore as India found it easy.

Lalit Upadhyay and Akashdeep built the moves from the right as the Chinese defenders outnumbered the duo, the latter passed the ball to Yousuf, who drove the ball inside the goal on the far post to make it 2-0.

Four minutes later, Jasjit made it 3-0 as he single-handedly stole the ball from the midfield to enter the rival circle before playing a one-two with S.K. Uthappa prior to employ a reverse-hand strike past the Chinese custodian.

India’s circle penetrations continued and three minutes later they earned a penalty corner which was converted by Rupinder in the 25th minute — eighth goal of the tournament for the Indian set-piece specialist — as India went into the half-time with a 4-0 lead.

The script remained the same after the 10-minute lemon break. India surged ahead and China had further trouble.

Uthappa played a through pass to Nikkin, who was stationed with his back facing the Chinese post. Nikkin made a spin and just lifted the ball in to make it 5-0.

In another quick counter-attack, the Chinese goalkeeper ran towards an onrushing Nikkin on the former’s right before the Indian passed the ball to Lalit, who sent the ball home into an empty net.

Later, Akashdeep again made the most of a poor trapping from a Chinese defender on the left and charged to the top of the ‘D’ before shooting home to make it 7-0.

Walmiki too registered his name among the goal-scorers as he beat the Chinese goalkeeper with a rasping drive in the 41st minute.

Despite being 8-0 up with only a quarter to go, India didn’t stop and piled further misery on the hapless Chinese as Jasjit rocketed the ball high in a goal-melee to mark his side’s ninth goal of the evening.

In the final minutes of the game, India tried their best to enhance their goal tally but they couldn’t as the battered Chinese were happy to walk off the pitch.

IANS