India men have claimed the Gold medal at the Asian Games in dramatic fashion thanks to a shoot-out victory over rivals Pakistan on Thursday 2nd October, a result which earns India a ticket to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Bronze medal match in Incheon was won by hosts Korea, who wrestled down Malaysia to take their place on the podium.
The much-anticipated showdown between age-old rivals India and Pakistan was an absolute classic, as the sub continental neighbours played out a nail-biting contest.
Pakistan started the brighter of the two teams and took an early lead when Muhammad Rizwan Sr. fired in from the top of the circle. India battled hard to get an equaliser and eventually drew level when Kothajit Khadangbam scored a superb close-range deflection which gave Pakistan goalkeeper Imran Butt absolutely no chance of saving.
The second half saw the action swing frenetically from one end of the pitch to the other. Despite numerous chances, neither side managed to find a breakthrough, meaning that the match would have to be settled by the drama of the shoot-out.
Amongst the first four pairings, two players from Pakistan and one from India failed to convert their chances, meaning that if India scored from their next attempt, the title and Olympic qualification would be theirs. The responsibility fell on the shoulders of Dharamvir Singh, who made no mistake to seal India’s win.
Despite the defeat, Pakistan’s dream of qualifying for the 2016 Olympic Games is far from over. They will now target a successful run in the Hockey World League, where Olympic berths are up for grabs in the Semi-Final events.
Korea started their Bronze medal clash with more drive and more aggressiveness, but Malaysia countered well and denied their higher-ranked opponents clear sights of goal. The Koreans stepped up the pressure in the second quarter, converting their superiority into a 2-0 half time lead. Malaysia reduced the deficit with a penalty stroke at the beginning of the second half before Jang Jonghyun restored the two goal lead with a penalty stroke of his own. The third penalty stroke of the match went the way of Malaysia, who took full advantage to take the score to 3-2, but Korea successfully protected their lead to seal Bronze, much to the delight of the hundreds of home supporters packed into the stadium.
Thursday’s program started with Japan facing China for a fifth place finish in the competition. Japan looked more assertive in the early stages of the game, culminating with a goal by Kei Kawakami at the start of the second quarter. However, as time went on, China picked up speed and eventually levelled the scores in the third quarter before showing cool heads to win the shoot-out 4-3.
Results
Thursday, 2 October 2014 – Men
5/6th place: Japan – China 1-1 (1-0) 3-4 shoot-out
Bronze Medal: Korea – Malaysia 3-2 (2-0)
Final: India – Pakistan 1-1 (1-1) 4-2 shoot-out
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