English
Dhaka, Dec 22 : The crunch rivalry lived up to it’s name as India defeated Pakistan 4-3 in a thrilling encounter to clinch their first ever Bronze medal in the Asian Champions Trophy in Dhaka on Wednesday.
This is India’s second Bronze in 2021 after having won the Olympic 3rd place recognition in Tokyo. India came into the match after getting a shock beating on the hands of Japan 5-3 in the semi-final round, yesterday. Pakistan lost their semi-final match to South Korea in a 11-goal thriller. This will be for the first time in history, India and Pakistan have to share the stage out of the first two spots in the Asian Champions Trophy. Both were the joint runners-up in the previous edition.
A magnificent game of 🏑 comes to an end, with the #MenInBlue managing to beat Pakistan and taking the third position in the Hero Men’s Asian Champions Trophy Dhaka 2021. 💙#IndiaKaGame #HeroACT2021 pic.twitter.com/MJCAvYjNgy
— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) December 22, 2021
India took the lead in the very first minute through vice-captain Harmanpreet Singh before Sumit (45th), Varun Kumar (53rd) and Akashdeep Singh (57th) struck a goal each.
Pakistan’s goals were scored by Afraz (10th), Abdul Rana (33rd) and Ahmed Nadeem (57th).
It was India’s second win over Pakistan in the tournament after having beaten the same opponents 3-1 in the round-robin stages.
Coming into the tournament as hot favourites and having topped the round-robin stage with an unbeaten record, the Indians would be disappointed to return with a bronze.
In the summit clash, South Korea will play Japan in the ACT 2021 Final.
(With Inputs From PTI)
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