Ad Hoc Committee IHF Media Release

A golden goal sealed the fate of India Juniors as they went down 1-2 to Australia in the men’s hockey final of the Australian Youth Olympic Festival at Sydney today.

India who were unbeaten in the tournament conceded an early lead to their opponents when Aussie striker Kieren Govers deflected a reverse cross hit from the left past Indian goalkeeper Mrinal Chaubey in the 3rd minute.

Stung by the early reversal, India tried in vain to restore parity from the three penalty corners attempts they had in the first half. The Australian analysts had done their homework on the tournament’s top scorer as they repeatedly foiled the Indian captain Diwakar Ram.

Australia came close to doubling the scoreline from a penalty corner in the 29th minute but Chaubey brought off a brilliant save.

India orchestrated attacks with their nippy forwards Mandip Antil, Jay Karan, Pramod Kumar and Danish Mujtaba but were unable to get the equaliser and trailed 1-0 at the break.

The second session saw a hard fought contest as India accelerated the pace against their taller rivals. They nearly leveled the score in the 43rd minute but Jay Karan could not strike home off a goalmouth skirmish.

The equaliser finally came in the 55th minute when Pramod Kumar intercepted an Antil setup and beat the Aussie custodian with a crisp forehand.

The final quarter saw attacks from both teams but none could be converted to goals thus forcing the gold medal encounter into extra time.

Australia however struck the match winner in the 76th minute when 20 year old Canberra forward Jason Donohoe found the mark.

Ad Hoc Committee IHF Media Release