New Delhi. After India won its second bronze medal at the Olympic Games, many current and former players had said that if the country has to win consistently in international hockey, then the players will have to increase the number of field goals. The Indian team replied that this is no longer the case by winning the Asian Champions Trophy in Hulunbuir, China for a record fifth time as the team did not lose a single match during the entire tournament. Harmanpreet Singh and his teammates scored 18 out of the total 26 field goals in the tournament during this stellar campaign.
In this respect, it was a much improved performance from the Paris Olympics campaign as India had scored a total of 15 goals while conceding only three field goals. Charismatic goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, who retired after the Paris Olympics, had stressed the need for more field goals. India’s head coach Craig Fulton fielded a relatively young team for the Asian Champions Trophy while resting experienced forwards like Mandeep Singh, Gurjant Singh and Lalit Kumar Upadhyay. Only two strikers Abhishek and Sukhjeet Singh, who were part of the Paris Olympics team, were retained in the team.
Fulton brought in young players like former junior team captain Uttam Singh, Arijit Singh Hundal and Gurjot Singh. And these new players did not disappoint either. In fact, the young forward line scored 11 field goals. Uttam scored a total of four goals in the tournament, three from field and one from penalty corner. Hundal (three), Sukhjit (three) and Abhishek (two) also contributed. That was not enough as the best performers came from captain and drag-flicker Harmanpreet (two) and defender Jugraj Singh (one).
Harmanpreet was the second-highest scorer in the tournament after China’s Jihun Yang (nine). He scored seven goals, five of which came from penalty corners. Jugraj also scored two goals, one from a penalty corner and the other from a field goal, as India won the title with a 1-0 win over hosts China on Tuesday. Much to the delight of the Indian coaching staff, young midfielder Raj Kumar Pal put up a valiant performance in the tournament, scoring three field goals while defender Jarmanpreet Singh also scored a goal. India scored the most goals, 26, in the six-team competition, followed by arch-rivals Pakistan (18), Korea (17), Malaysia (17), Japan (15) and China (10). It was a much-improved performance and Fulton hopes the trend continues in upcoming tournaments.
