Australia seized the moment and came up with all the right answers to beat India 3-2 to win the eight-nation junior men hockey tournament at the National Hockey Stadium here in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
By Julia Vasanthi / GNN
It was India's first defeat in the tournament and they had even defeated the Australians 2-1 in the preliminary round.
One day earlier, the Indians took the lead but proved timid in the second half to give the Australians the upper hand. It was also their worse performance to date.
The chances were plenty for both teams and both goalkeepers were kept busy throughout the game
It proved to be a fast paced match with the Australians dominating for most part.
The Indians were kept pegged in defense and goalkeeper P. R. Sreejesh was the player to beat when he saved no less than four clear attempts at goal. He also saved two of the Australians' penalty corners in the first half.
The Indians depended on the counter attacks and they came close on several occasions when they broke through along the flanks. They earned their first penalty corner of the match in the 16th minute.
And their specialist drag flicker Diwakar Ram made no mistake when he flicked home with a low shot for a 1-0 first half lead. It was his 12th goals of the tournament.
In the second half the Australians continued form where they stopped and soon had the Indians back pedaling in defense.
Australian scored the equalizer in the 44th minute through a field attempt by Aaron Kleinschmidt and then went ahead in the 52nd minute when Aaron scored another goal from close range to put them ahead.
The Indians opening up a little managed to draw level in the 62nd minute through Mandeep Antil but it was not enough in the end.
Australian skipper Mathew Buttunni netted the winner off a field attempt in the 66th minute to crush the hopes of the Indian players..
Germany took third placed when they defeated Netherlands 3-1 in the classification match. The Germans led 3-0 before the Dutch scored their goal.
The Germans netted their goals through Felix Oldhafer, Patrick Schmidt and Benedikt Furk in the first, 15th and 49th minutes respectively.
The Dutch scored their consolation goal in the 66th minute through Quijin Caspers.
Pakistan had little trouble beating New Zealand 8-3 to claim fifth place.
Haseem Khan and Shafqat Rasool scored a brace for the Pakistanis while the other contributors were Khasif Ali, Inayat Ullah, Adeel Hussain and Mohamed Zubair. For the Kiwis their scorers were Stephen Jenesses, Issac Staples and Joseph Barthelomew.
Malaysians finished in seventh place after beating South Korea 2-1.
Final Results:
Final: India ÔÇô Australia 2-3
Third place: Germany ÔÇô Netherlands 3-1
Fifth place: Pakistan ÔÇô New Zealand 8-3
Seventh place: Malaysia ÔÇô Korea 2-1
Best player of tournament: Martin Haner (Germany)
Best goalkeeper: Laurens Goedegebuure (Netherlands)
Top Scorer: Diwakar Ram (India) ÔÇô 12 goals
