Hockey captain Sreejesh unsure of participation in Australia tour

This goal saved the blushes for pre-tournament favourites India, who had slipped behind on a defensive lapse two minutes earlier against the rivals who played with a packed defence throughout the match.

An inspired second half performance saw India outgun South Korea 2-1 in an exciting Pool encounter at the 4th Women Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament here on Sunday. Though the Koreans kept up the pressure, the Indian defence ensured that they went into halftime down by a single goal.

PR Sreejesh celebrating with the team after retaining the title. Their past exploits will certainly help them put a better fight when they take the turf against Malaysia. Following that defeat, Junaid had said, “I will take positives from this and ensure the same mistakes don’t happen”.

“For India’s hockey fans this is a major title win, but we have to go on and win bigger global events”, Oltmans added. The pendulum swung back again as India won back the lead with a Field Goal by Chandanda Nikkin Thimmaiah.

Pakistan are now ranked 13th in the world while India are placed on number six.

“The coach only said, “pick up any data, any video, any statistics from the last few years and you will see that we are better in everything”.

Right from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, political leaders to sports personalities, everyone profusely praised the members of the Indian hockey team for bringing laurels to the country. Rupinder Pal Singh has been in imperious form as he scored 10 goals so far, the highest in the tournament. “He handled it well”. The 2011 final against Pakistan was the one where Sreejesh came into the spotlight for the first time by saving two penalties. The scores read 2-2 at full time and with a place for the final at stake, the onus was on him to bail out the team in the penalty shootout.

The fourth shot by Bae Jong-Suk was blocked by Sreejesh, but a penalty stroke was awarded for a stick-check by the Indian goalkeeper after Korea asked for a video referral and the resultant stroke was converted by Yang Ji-Hun. Both teams have an advantage on penalty corners but creating opportunities is also important.