JMAC: Sweet win for Indian against Malaysia
Kuantan, Malaysia, 15th November, 2015: India posted a sweet revenge victory over the hosts Malaysia in its second match of the Kuantan Junior Asia Cup. The India who lost to Malaysia in the previous Junior Asia Cup at Malacca, today churned out a champagne stuff, with a lot of a sweating of course, for a 5-4 win, after narrowly defeating Japan 2-1 yesterday.
Malaysia drew first blood in the game with an opening minute field goal.
India however came back strongly to level 1-1 within 10 minutes through Mandeep Singh. The first half saw both the teams pressing hard until Malaysia scored again to take the lead in the 25th minute.
The Second half started with India again conceding a penalty corner but it was bravely saved by goalie Suraj Karkera. This pepped up the Indian attack, with Gurjant Singh scoring to level the score(2-2)
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With 23 minutes left in the game, the Indian forwards pressed hard. Their efforts were duly rewarded with two back to back penalty corners, one of which was beautifully converted by Harmanpreet Singh to give India the much needed lead (3-2).
India converted another one by invincible Harmanpreet Singh (4-2).
Mandeep Singh’s goal shortly after ensured India’s comfortable three goal lead as the score stood at 5-2.
However, the Malaysians thereafter pressed hard and succeeded twice to break through the Indian defence to score two consecutive goals in the dying moments of the game taking the score to a close 4-5, with India still in the lead. The Indian colts thereafter made no errors and earned their second consecutive victory in the 8th Junior Asia Cup.
Coach, Indian Junior Men’s Hockey team, Harendra Singh said, “It was a very good effort by the team. The boys showed impeccable attacking ability by putting 5 goals past the opponents. The defence was tested to such an extent for the first time in the tournament and it was a narrow escape. We will take the positives out of the game and work hard on deriving a balance between attack and defence.”
India will take on China day after tomorrow.