India’s route to Asian Games Hockey Final

MATCH 5: SEMIFINAL: India 1 South Korea 0

30 September 2014:Both the teams played an exciting clash which saw a powerful mix of attack and defence from both the sides as they did not let each other to cash on any opportunities and open the goal account for the first two quarters. A hard-fought battle between the two teams continued till the very 43rd minute and it was only in the third quarter when the Indian forward Akashdeep Singh sneaked his way into the opponent’s D and pierced in a field goal to open the account for India in the 44th minute, which proved to be the winning goal for his team. Indian Men Hockey team enters the final of the Asian Games after a period of 12 years.

MATCH 4: India 2 China 0

27 September 2014:India downed China 2-0 to mark a spectacular entry into the semi-final of the 17th Asian Games 2014. The entire first & second quarters of the game remains goalless as the score stood at 0-0 at half time. It was only in the 3rd quarter of the game that India was awarded a penalty corner in the 40th minute. Indian defender V R Raghunath perfectly converted the penalty corner into the maiden goal of the game giving India a required lead of 1-0. India scored its second goal of the match in the 45th minute which came from the stick of defender Birendra Lakra, taking the score for India to 2-0.

MATCH 3: India 1 Pakistan 2

25 September 2014: The high-voltage clash saw a neck-to-neck fight till the last minute of the game. India challenged their arch-rivals Pakistan in all quarters but went down fighting the contest by 1-2. It was Pakistan who managed the first breakthrough in the 38th minute when Muhammad Umar Bhutta sneaked in a field goal and opened the account for his team. Going into the fourth quarter, India went full throttle on the opponents D and drew the game in the 53rd minute when Nikkin Thimmaiah sliced in a field goal, taking the scorecard 1-1 and leaving Pakistan stunned. However in the next minute, Muhammad Waqas scored the second goal for Pakistan and took the score at 2-1. India intensely fought back for the rest of the match to try and level the score but was unsuccessful in their efforts, and eventually lost the match by 1-2.

MATCH 2: India 7 Oman 0

23 September 2014: Displaying excellent skills and dominating the entire show, India registered their second consecutive win in the 17th Asian Games as they defeated Oman 7-0 in the second match played at the Soenhak Hockey Stadium. With combined efforts from the team, Rupinder Pal Singh and V R Raghunath struck twice while Akashdeep Singh, SV Sunil and Danish Mujtaba posted a goal apiece to help post a comfortable 7-0 sweep. The first quarter saw a careful start by both the teams concentrating on defence, as both did not let the opposition open the goal account in the match. It was early in the second quarter of the match when India secured a penalty corner and Rupinder Pal Singh splendidly converted it in a goal in the 18th minute and opened the account for the Indian team. Following the same process the very next minute of the game, Rupinder Pal Singh converted yet another penalty corner, taking the score up at 2-0. Continuing their dominance in the third quarter of the game as well, it was Akashdeep Singh in the 33rd minute who made no mistake to convert a penalty corner taking the score further up at 3-0 and V R Raghunath who immediately sliced in a penalty stroke in the 39th minute to increase the lead by 4-0. The fourth quarter of the match saw a juggle between both the team’s attack and defence, where Oman tried to penetrate the Indian half, the Indian midfielders and defence line-up held their ground and snatched away the opportunities from Oman. It was only in the 54th minute of the game when Indian forward SV Sunil converted a penalty corner opportunity in the opponent’s goal post to advance the score to 5-0 on the board. A field goal pierced by Danish Mujtaba in the 60th minute and V R Raghunath converting another penalty corner in the same minute as well, ensured a 7-0 win to India over Oman.

MATCH 1: India 8 Sri Lanka 0

21 September 2014:Just 6 minutes into the game Nikkin Thimmaiah scored the first goal giving the much required break. In the 12th minute, India was given a penalty stroke and was successfully converted by Rupinder Pal Singh ( 2-0). Trying to get back from the early set back the opponent team tried to come back in the match but VR Raghunath had different plans and in the 15th minute he converted the penalty corner opportunity that the team bagged. At the end of first quarter India was leading 3-0. In the 21st minute Chinglensana scored the 4th goal and then in the 28th minute saw Ramandeep Singh further added (5-0). It was 5-0 at the end of second half. India started the 3rd quarter by continuing their attack on Sri Lanka. The 3rd quarter and 4th quarter saw Rupinder Pal Singh scoring two back to back goals in the 45th and 46th minutes. While the first was a field goal scored just before the end of the third quarter, his second consecutive goal came immediately at the start of the fourth quarter and was a brilliant penalty corner conversion. India’s 8th goal came in the 59th minute and scored by Ramadeep Singh through a field goal.