Incheon, Oct 2: India’s men’s hockey team won its third Asian Games gold medal on Thursday defeating arch-rivals Pakistan in the final. In a dramatic penalty shoot-out, India edged out Pakistan 4-2 in the penalty-shoot out after the teams were tied at 1-1 in full time.
India’s gold medal-winning performance in Incheon ensured its direct entry into the Olympics. India and Pakistan contested their first head-to-head final in the Asian Games after a long gap of 32 years. India’s previous two golds in the men’s hockey event have come in Bangkok on two separate occasions—1966 and 1998. In a tense penalty shootout, India opened the scoring through Gurwinder Singh Chandi.
Indian goalkeeper Shreejesh then turned hero, blocking the Pakistan attempt to keep India in the lead. Rupinder Pal Singh doubled India’s advantage, by putting his attempt past Pakistan goalkeeper Irfan Butt. Mohammad Waqas then cut India’s advantage down by a goal, by finishing his attempt. In the fifth stroke, Manpreet Singh missed, but India still held the advantage at 2-1.
Pakistan then missed their third shot, with Shreejesh ushering the ball out of play. Birendra Lakra then stepped up when it mattered, calmly putting the ball past an advancing Butt to make it 3-1. While both teams scored their remaining shots, there was only one winner. Earlier, in a closely-fought encounter, Pakistan hit the ground running from the very start, after Mohammad Rizwan opened the scoring in the 2nd minute. While India kept searching for the equalizer during the course of the quarter, it took them 28th minutes to find one through Kothajit Singh.
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