Asian Champions Trophy: India emerge victorious in final after scare

Amidst chants of music legend AR Rahmanrsquos famous Vande Mataram from a near10000 strong crowd India eked out a thrilling 43 win over Malaysia in the final of the Asian Champions Trophy at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium here on SaturdayIt was a match of two halves with India starting poorly but finishing brilliantly for a record fourth ACT triumph in seven editions Jugraj steps upIndia opened the scoring through their first penalty corner in the ninth minute With skipper and star drag flicker Harmanpreet Singh out taking a breather Jugraj Singh stepped up and beat Malaysian custodian Hafizuddin Othman with a powerful flick Malaysia bounced right back In the 14th minute Azuan Hasan picked up the ball and ran in from the right to relay a cross to Abu Kamal Azrai who tapped in for 11 With a spring in their step the Malaysians began the second quarter in brilliant fashion earning a penalty corner Familiar foe Razie Rahim 18th minute drag flicked the ball home to put India behind for the first time in this tournamentIn response the Indian midfield and forwards seemed directionless The midfield kept pumping in long passes into the Malaysian box with the hope of some Indian forward meeting the ball That never happened Instead Malaysia added insult to injury with another goal earning another penalty corner and scoring through Muhamad Aminudin 28th for 31 India began the third quarter better with Hardik Singh and Sukhjeet Singh making deep runs but unable to score Then in 60 seconds of mayhem the match turned on its head as India scored twice Sukhjeet was wrongly tackled inside the Malaysian box and Harmanpreet 45th scored off the resulting penalty stroke to take his tally to nine goalsIndians hit back in styleAs Malaysia restarted India snatched the ball and launched another attack with Gurjant Singh 45th this time tapping in a rising ball into goal to restore parity at 33 The spectators were now on the edge of their seats as was chief guest Anurag Thakur Indiarsquos Sports Minister And four minutes from the final whistle Mandeep Singh made up for all his misses throughout the tournament with a sweet backpass inside the Malaysian box which Akashdeep Singh 56th trapped and slammed home for the tournamentwinner Also Read Asian Champions Trophy Coach Craig Fulton only imparts lessons in training not from sidelinesThe forwards continued missing a couple of shots on goal thereafter too and Harmanpreet failed to a convert a couple of more penalty corners but it didnrsquot matter as the final whistle signalled not just a brilliant win but also confirmed that this Indian hockey team are on the right path as they head into the Asian Games next monthJapan take bronzeEarlier Asian Games champions Japan won the bronze medal match beating Korea 53 Ryoma Ooka 3rd min Ryosei Kato 9th Kentaro Fukuda 28th Shota Yamada 53rd and Ken Nagayoshi 56th were on target for Japan Jonghyun Jang 15th and 33rd netted a brace for Korea while Cheoleon Park 26th scored one