Hulunbuir, Sept 18: The only team to medal in the last two Olympics, Harmanpreet Singh and Co breezed past every opposition at the 2023 Asian Champions Trophy. A month later, the world No.5 outfit demolished every team at the Hangzhou Asian Games with huge margins to race away with the gold.Despite not being in full strength in the Chinese city of Hulunbuir, India still managed to defend their Asian Champions Trophy crown on Tuesday by winning the continental title for the fifth time in eight editions. Only this time, it wasnāt without a fight.
The lowest ranked outfit at No.23 in the six-team competition, China forced India to work hard and go 51 minutes without scoring a goal ā something that hadnāt happened before the final ā until defender Jugraj Singh (51st) finally converted in the fourth quarter to hand India a 1-0 win.
Though they didnāt start the tournament well, losing three round-robin games including a 0-3 defeat to India in the opener, the hosts grew as the event progressed ā beating Malaysia, Japan and Pakistan to qualify for only their second-ever final in international hockey after the 2006 Asian Games summit clash which they lost to South Korea.
Buoyed by a raucous home crowd at the packed Moqi Training Base, an extremely exuberant Chinese outfit attacked and defended as a unit in a contest between the highest and lowest ranked teams in the tournament.
Though India maintained the lionās share of possession ā 84% at half-time ā they were not able to break through a very resolute Chinese defence, who man-marked all Indian forwards in the striking circle and immediately adopted a zonal approach the moment they stepped out of the D.
And it did ā from the unlikeliest of sources too. Two defenders and drag-flickers assisted and scored not via a PC but a beautifully constructed field goal.
With only nine minutes left on the clock, Player of the Tournament Harmanpreet decided to try something unconventional. The India skipper, who normally plays as a centre or right back, switched to the left flank during a long corner, to single-handedly bring in the ball inside the striking circle while dodging past three Chinese defenders before passing the ball to Jugraj, who at goalmouth just had to push the ball past Weihao.