India beat Pakistan 4-3 to win bronze medal at Asian Champions Trophy 2021

The Indian men’s hockey team earned a 4-3 win over Pakistan in the Men’s Hockey Asian Champions Trophy 2021 on Wednesday during the third-place match and took the bronze medal home. This was India’s second win over Pakistan in the tournament, after previously defeating them 3-1 during the league stage of the tournament held last week. However, India lost their semifinal game to Japan 3-5 on Tuesday and ended up facing Pakistan in the bronze medal match. Meanwhile, Wednesday’s clash turned out to be a neck-to-neck contest as the score-line stood at 1-1 at the end of the first half.

Harmanpreet Singh opens goal tally for India-

Harmanpreet Singh scored India’s first goal in the early stages of the first quarter by a penalty corner, before Pakistan equalized the score, courtesy of Arfraz’s brilliant goal in the 11th minute. The first half of the match ended on 1-1, as Pakistan countered well while India looked to dominate the proceedings. Indian skipper Manpreet Singh was shown a yellow card at the beginning of the second half as Pakistan were rewarded a goal from the penalty corner. Abdul Rana scored Pakistan’s 2nd goal of the night to take the lead before Sumit came up with the equalizer while the third quarter came to an end.

India defeat Pakistan with two goals in the final stages-

India earned a penalty corner at the beginning of the fourth quarter as Junaid got a two-minute suspension, however they failed to convert it. Varun Kumar hit the third goal for India by a penalty corner, while Akashdeep Singh scored India’s fourth goal to take the lead to 4-2. Pakistan scored their third goal of the night, courtesy of Ahmed Nadeem’s strike, as India marched to victory with two players down. Hardik Singh and Sumit were shown yellow cards in the final stages of the match. Meanwhile, Indian skipper Manpreet Singh was named the player of the match, for leading the squad from the front.

(Twitter Image: @TheHockeyIndia)