Angad Bir got the first breakthrough for India

SALALAH: The Indian junior men's hockey team clinched the Junior Asia Cup title for the fourth time after defeating Pakistan 2-1. Fans from India and Pakistan gathered in large numbers to watch this tournament being held after eight years. In the final moments, Pakistan displayed excellent performance but the defense, led by Indian goalkeeper Mohit HS, thwarted every attack. Angad Bir Singh scored for India in the 12th minute, Arijit Singh Hundal in the 19th minute, while Basharat Ali scored for Pakistan. India's former head coach Roelant Oltmans scored the lone goal in the 37th minute.

India has won this title for the fourth time after 2004, 2008 and 2015 while Pakistan was the champion in 1987, 1992 and 1996. Both the teams have faced each other thrice in the finals of the Junior Men's Hockey Asia Cup earlier. Pakistan won in 1996 while India was victorious in 2004. In the last tournament played in Malaysia, India won the title by defeating Pakistan 6-2. This time, the tournament took place after eight years. It was not organized in 2021 due to the Coronavirus Pandemic.

India started aggressively and attacked Pakistan's goal in the first quarter itself. Angad Bir got the first breakthrough for India in the 12th minute. In the second quarter too, India dominated in terms of control of the ball. Arijit completed a brilliant move by the Indian forward line with a second field goal in the 19th minute. It was his eighth goal in the tournament. Just before half-time, Pakistan's Shahid Abdul created a golden opportunity but his shot in front of the goal was cleverly saved by Indian goalkeeper Mohit HS.

In the second half, the Pakistani team came back aggressively and in the seventh minute of the third quarter, Shahid Abdul scored a goal from inside by hitting Basharat standing on the right side of the goal. Pakistan got a penalty corner in the 50th minute but the team could not equalise. Along with this, two consecutive penalty corners were found after four minutes but there was no success.

Notably, Both India and Pakistan are unbeaten in the tournament. The two had faced each other in the league stage as well, but the match ended in a 1-1 draw. India topped the league stage on the basis of better goal average. Defending champions India beat Chinese Taipei 18-0, Japan 3-1 and Thailand 17-0 in their first match. India beat Korea 9-1 in the semi-finals. In the league stage, Pakistan beat Chinese Taipei 15–1, Thailand 9–0, Japan 3–2 and Malaysia 6–2.