KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 12: India bagged the four-nation international Under-19 hockey tournament title, beating hosts Malaysia 3-0 in the final at National Hockey Stadium on Sunday.
Tushar Khandekar and captain Prabodh Tirkey scored the goals in the first half while left winger Vinay netted the third in the 57th minute.
Indian captain Prabodh Tirkey was declared the best player of the tournament. Gurcharan Singh was named best player of the final and Pakistan’s Yasir Islam was adjudged the most promising player of the tournament.
Indians held the upper hand in the first session and after missing a couple of gilt-edges chances, they scored in the 15th minute with Khandekar scoring after a swift involving Gurcharan Singh.
Just before the lemons, Tirkey doubled the lead on penalty with a blistering angular shot from the top of the circle.
Three goals from Mahmood Ali helped Pakistan clinch third place after whipping South Korea 7-0 in a third place playoff.
Reserve center-forward Mahmood, who scored two goals in his previous match against Korea, became the highest scorer of the contest. Gurcharan Singh and Tushar Khandekar of India had four goals each to their credit.
Koreans brought all their key players who were rested in the last league match, but failed to overcome Pakistan. Pakistan made an encourging start with Mahmood grabbing the lead in the second minute off a lovely right side cross from Mohammad Imran.
The second goal which came 19 minutes later was the result of fine move between Tariq Aziz and Naeem Akber which ended with Naeem scoring past South Korean goalkeeper Kim Jae Young in the 21st minute.
Pakistan collected three penalty corners in a row in four minutes. After the missing the first short corner, Imran pushed the ball in the top side of the net to score the third.
Tariq Aziz’s slammed home a close range goal to give his side a 4-0 lead on neat cross from Yasir Islam near goalmouth.
Soon after resumption, left winger Naeem missed golden opportunity as his flick missed the goal. Pakistan were reduced to ten men when Abbas Haider, who replaced Naeem, was was shown a yellow card by Malaysian umpire P.Balamurali in 43rd minute.
Naeem pushed the ball between two Korean defenders who struck their sticks which resulted in marching orders for the Pakistani.
The fifth penalty corner saw Muhammad Imran’s powerful scoop landing into the net in 59th minute. After couple of efforts went in vain, Mahmood scored two goals in space of two minutes.
Mahmood deflected a Tariq cross past goalie in the 67th minute and then a combined move between Imran and Yasir helped Mahmood score his third.
South Koreans forced two penalty corners in the last minute of the game but could not convert. In all, South Korea secured three penalty corners, while Pakistan six.
Pakistan: Mohammad Adeel Ahmad (goalkeeper), Ikhaq Ahmad, Mohammad Tariq Yameen, (Mohammad Imran Khan), Mohammad Imran, Asim Khan, Khalid Mahmood (Sajjad Anwar), Adnan Zakir, Tariq Aziz (captain), Mahmood Ali (Mohammad Arif), Mohammad Naeem Akber (Abbas Haider), Yasir Islam
South Korea: Kim Jae Young, Kong Hyun Bae (Lee Yun Chan), Choo Deok Shin, Kim Young Bae, (Kwon Hyuk Jin), Lee Yae Won (Captain), Woo Dae Myung, Ju Kwang Jin, Chae Hee Bo, Bae Jun Han, Ha Tae Min (Kim Ming Sung), Hyun Hae Sung.
Umpires: Daljit Singh (Malaysia) and P.Balamurali (Malaysia).—APP
