8th Junior Mens Asia Cup: India register third consecutive win
The Indian Junior Men’s Hockey team sealed their quarterfinal berth today with a solid win over China. The Indian colts who registered their third consecutive win in the 8th Junior Asia Cup in Kuantan, Malaysia registered a confident win of 4-1 against China in their last group encounter.
Manpreet (Jr.) fired two goals for India through Penalty Corner conversions while Harmanpreet and Ajit Pandey scored one goal apiece to ensure India’s third consecutive victory.
India started on an attacking note pressing hard on the weak Chinese defense, but could only convert in the 16th minute through a penalty corner. Harmanpreet Singh was the scorer for India. The first half came to an end with India leading 1-0.
India raced through to score their second goal through Ajit Pandey in the 2nd minute of the second half to give India a 2-0 lead. China struck back soon after in the 43rd minute through a penalty corner taking the score to 2-1. India thereafter increased their pace in the game to convert two goals in quick succession through Manpreet (Jr.) to ensure India’s win over China. With this win, India sits atop the chart in Group B.
“It is good that we have continued with our winning momentum. It gets tougher from here, and we all realise that we now enter the knockout zone hence every match is a new championship for us. I am glad that the boys stuck to the basics and were confident in paving through the opponents defense. We head back now to prepare for the quarterfinals and hopefully we will have enough to rejoice after that match as well,” said Harendra Singh, Coach, Indian Junior Men’s Hockey Team.
The 8th Junior Asia Cup is being played from the 14th – 22nd November 2015 at the Wisma Belia Hockey Stadium in Kuantan, Malaysia. One of the elite Asian tournaments, the 8th Junior Asia Cup will see the top eight Asian hockey powerhouses playing for supremacy. India is placed in Pool A with Malaysia, Japan and China.