After a thrilling shootout on Saturday, India won the Bronze Medal in the Sultan of Johar Cup, where they prevailed 2-2 (3-2) over New Zealand.
The match was tensed and full of excitement, with India from the get-go starting to attack skilfully, resulting in an early success in the 11th minute when Dilraj Singh scored with an assist made by Mukesh Toppo, putting them ahead 1-0 in the first quarter.
With their good defence in the second quarter, India stalled New Zealand from scoring. However, an error in their defence led them to concede back-to-back PCs.
However, they managed well to block those PCs in the 19th minute.
But came the 20th minute, where we get to see some brilliant stick work and combination between Indian players in which Mukesh passes the ball to Anmol, and he takes the ball forward to the box and passes it to Manmeet, who scores a goal with a flick, resulting in India going up 2-0 in this match.
Even before the end of the second quarter, they got more chances to score, but they were unable to capitalize on them.
The scoreline remained 2-0 in the third quarter, but the fourth quarter came with some bad news as New Zealand made a comeback by scoring two crucial
goals in the 51st and the 57th minute, denting India’s chances of winning the medal.
However, there was a chance for India in the 60th minute with Ankit, but his deflection following a pass from the left flank was just off the target, resulting in a shootout.
The shootout was tense, with both India and New Zealand scoring in their first attempt. However, in the 2nd attempt, New Zealand managed to score
while India failed.
But India, despite being under great pressure, came from behind and converted both of their chances, while New Zealand failed to score in either of them.
And with New Zealand also failing to convert their fifth attempt, it sealed the Bronze Medal for India.
Strikers Gurjot Singh, Manmeet Singh, and Sourabh Anand Kushwaha were the ones who converted their chances in this tense shootout.
With this medal, India’s medal tally reaches 10 in the Sultan of Johar Cup, the most by any team in the tournament’s history
