Hockey: Asian Champions Trophy: India Defeats Malaysia 8-1 to Win the Tournament for the Third Time in a row; Raj Kumar Pal Scores Three Goals

Slick stick work allowed Harmanpreet Singh, who is normally the last man standing in Indian defence, to unexpectedly find himself in the offensive third, sliding by Malaysian opponents and taking a shot at goal.

It was one of those uncommon games where the captain of India did not have to worry about preserving a lead in the final seconds of play. His side was ahead by a significant 8-1 margin. Additionally, Harmanpreet attempted something new: making a field goal.

He was unable to. However, India’s play against Malaysia in their Asian Champions Trophy hockey match proved their superiority once more.

Three games, three victories, sixteen goals scored, and just two goals given up. Almost one-third of the goals scored in the competition have been scored by four Indians: Raj Kumar Pal, Sukhjeet Singh, Uttam Singh, and Abhishek. They are among the top five scorers.

And this is only a small sampling of the ways in which India has dominated the Asian Champions Trophy.

India, who had previously been a banana-skin opponent, destroyed Malaysia by a seven-goal margin in their third round of the league to increase their advantage at the top of the table. They were becoming deadlier with each passing match and raising their goal tally each time.

Craig Fulton’s team is the only one with a perfect winning record thus far after India’s largest victory over Malaysia, according to IHF records. The other two unbeaten teams are South Korea, which is ranked second, and Pakistan, which is ranked third; however, both teams have drawn two of their last three games.

India’s next opponents are these two groups; on Thursday they play South Korea, and on Saturday they play Pakistan. The Olympic bronze medallists, who have been dominating their Asian opponents, will make both of them cautious to face off.

India scored their first goal against Japan on Monday in less than two minutes. They required an extra minute on Wednesday.

Araijeet Singh Hundal extended India’s advantage three minutes later by hitting the Malaysian post’s corner. Jugraj Singh, a specialist in penalty corners, added another one a minute later with a strong drag flick.

Just with the match against Japan, the result was decided within the first ten minutes, leaving just the number of goals India will score to worry about. The three fast goals, as it turned out, were just the start of Malaysia’s suffering.

In the 22nd minute, Harmanpreet, who scored the most goals at the Olympics in Paris, put the ball into the Malaysian goal with a fantastic flick to make it 4-0. After a combined effort by Araijeet and Uttam Singh, three minutes later Raj Kumar made sure that India led 5-0 at the half.

Anuar Akhimullah gave Malaysia a quick goal back after Rajkumar had hit the goal for the third time, but it was just a small comfort. As they added two more goals to their total, that goal, if anything, startled India out of any complacency. In the 39th minute, Araijeet scored with a straightforward tap-in from close range after a ball from Nilakanta Sharma. A minute later, Uttam scored his third goal of the competition after grabbing a rebound from a penalty corner.