India juniors win 4-nation hockey

India Under-19 team blanked hosts Malaysia 3-0 to win the four-nation invitational hockey tournament here today. India scored the goals thro...

India Under-19 team blanked hosts Malaysia 3-0 to win the four-nation invitational hockey tournament here today. India scored the goals through Rushar Khandekar (12th), skipper Prabodh Tirkey (33rd) and Vinay (57th).

India juniors have been in superb form in the tournament having defeated arch-rivals Pakistan and South Korea in earlier matches. Today, the Indians asserted their strength from the outset, and were rewarded in the 12th minute when Tushar Khandekar slotted home a ball played into a crowded ‘D’ from open play.

Malaysia, who drew with India in the opening round of the tournament, tried to come back in to the match, particularly after Vivek Gupta was yellow-carded, but the home side failed to penetrate the Indian defence. India nearly gained a lead when Hari Prasad rounded the goalkeeper after being released on the left and with a defender on the goal line still to beat, he hit the side netting.

Story continues below this ad

The let-off for Malaysia was short-lived with India’s strength, pace and skill continuing to force them on to the back foot, and in the 33rd minute a well worked penalty corner was fed through to captain Prabodh Tirkey, who drove the ball sweet and hard into the bottom left corner.

Trailing 0-2 at the breather, Malaysia came out transformed in the second session and for the next 25 minutes the Indian goal was under intense pressure.

But the nearest the team in yellow came was when Mohd Fairus Hamsani struck the inside of the post from close. After Malaysia failed to make a sequence of three penalty corners count, an Indian breakaway culminated in Vinay sweeping a rising cross-shot into the goal to kill off the game in the 57th minute. (PTI)