Muscat (Oman), Dec 3 (IANS) The Indian Junior Men’s Hockey Team took on Malaysia in the semifinal of the Men’s Junior Asia Cup against Korea here on Tuesday and defeated them 3-1 to advance to the final. Dilraj Singh (10’), Rohit (45’) and Sharda Nand Tiwari (52’) found the back of the net for India in the tie while Kamaruddin Azimuddin (57’) scored a consolation goal for Malaysia towards the end of the game.
Malaysia started the game on the front foot, quickly earning a penalty corner. However, the Indian defence stood firm. Moments later, Captain Che Nur Aqilrullah forced India’s goalkeeper Bikramjeet into action with a powerful shot.
The growing pressure resulted in another penalty corner for Malaysia, but once again, Kamaruddin Azimuddin’s flick was saved. India looked to transition quickly from defence, and in the 10th minute, Araijeet Singh Hundal found Dilraj Singh in the shooting circle. Dilraj turned around and, while off balance, bypassed the Malaysian goalkeeper Mohamad Rafaizul with a powerful shot to grant India the lead.
Malaysia didn’t show any signs of discouragement as they took the pitch in the second quarter and maintained their grip in the game, earning a couple of penalty corners but India bayed their advances and continued to threaten Malaysia with frequent counterattacks. Indian forwards Araijeet and Gurjot Singh were at the end of significant goalscoring opportunities but failed to capitalise and the first half ended 1-0 for India.
India pushed forward to double their lead in the third quarter but Malaysia closely marked all Indian players and fought for every loose ball to keep the tie within their reach. Halfway through the quarter, Malaysia earned a penalty corner but the shot bounced off the post.
India began rotating the ball patiently in search of openings but a yellow card with five minutes left in the quarter meant India had to defend with a man down. Despite this disadvantage, Malaysia failed to break down the Indian defence and went on to concede a penalty corner in the last second. This time Vice Captain Rohit directed a powerful drag flick to the top right corner and made it 2-0 for India.
India took more control as the last quarter began, earning a penalty corner with ten minutes remaining in the game. However, Mohamad Rafaizul pulled off amazing consecutive saves to keep the ball out of his goal. With eight minutes left in the quarter, Sharda Nand Tiwari pounced on a deflected shot from a penalty corner and unleashed a reverse tomahawk to increase India’s lead further.
Around the three-minute mark, Malaysia earned a penalty stroke and Kamaruddin Azimuddin beat Prince Deep Singh from the spot to score their first goal. Despite this, India contained Malaysia for the rest of the quarter, sealing a 3-1 victory.
India will now face off against last year’s finalist Pakistan once again in the final of the Men’s Junior Asia Cup on Wednesday. India had earned a hard-fought 2–1 victory against their long-time rivals to clinch the gold medal last time around.
–IANS
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