Sultan of Johor Cup: Heartbreak for India, bag silver after loss to Great Britain

Johor Bahru: India suffered a heart-breaking 2-3 loss to Great Britain to settle for the silver medal at the eighth Sultan of Johor Cup U-18 hockey tournament here on Saturday.

The silver, however, enabled India to better its last year’s bronze medal finish here.

Great Britain, who finished runners-up last year, secured their second Sultan of Johor Cup title by virtue of Saturday’s win.

The summit clash Saturday was a repeat of round robin match between the two sides, where Great Britain got the better of India by identical margin.

India made a strong start to the final earning an early penalty corner opportunity and they capitalised on the chance when Vishnukant Singh scored from a rebound in the fourth minute.

India’s enjoyed the lead for just three minutes as Great Britain drew level in the seventh minute through Daniel West’s field goal.

The second quarter witnessed an even contest between the two teams as they challenged each other with good playing structure and tested each other’s backlines.

Great Britain upped the ante in the third quarter and scored two crucial goals in the 39th minute and 42nd minute through James Oates that changed the course of the match. A 3-1 lead gave Great Britain the edge going into the final quarter as the Indians looked desperate to turn things around.

The Indians did manage to reduce the scoreline in the 55th minute through Abhishek but they failed to get another shot at the Britain goal.