Asian Champions Trophy Hockey: India beat Pakistan to enter semis unbeaten

India men's hockey team beat Pakistan 2-1 on Saturday (Sep 14) in the Asian Champions Trophy. This was India's fifth straight win in the tournament as they entered the semis unbeaten. A total of six teams are participating in the tournament in round-robin format.

All the goals were done in the first half itself with India skipper Harmanpreet Singh scoring both of India's goals. It was Pakistan who drew first blood as Ahmad Nadeem scored in the 8th minute for them.

Harmanpreet scored the equaliser five minutes later on a penalty corner and scored another one in the 19th minute to give India eventually a decisive lead.

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As with any Indo-Pak hockey match, the first quarter saw end-to-end action with both the teams giving their all to gain the bragging rights.

Prior to beating Pakistan, India had beaten host China, Japan, Malaysia and Korea as well. India won against China 3-0 in their first match before beating 5-1. India then annihilated Malaysia 8-1 and won over Korea 3-1 before beating Pakistan.

The semi finals are scheduled on September 16 and the final will be played on September 17.

The match also witnessed a heated encounter between Harmanpreet and Pakistan's Ashraf Waheed Rana after the latter shouldered Jugraj Singh inside the Indian circle.

Jugraj was felled by the impact and was seen grimacing in pain. Harmanpreet and Jarmanpreet Singh were quick to counter the offender.

The on-field umpires and Pakistan captain Butt and other players of both teams rushed in to control the situation but Rana was shown a yellow card, which resulted in a 10-minute suspension after the umpire went for a referral for serious misconduct.

Meanwhile, in the first match of the day, Malaysia and Korea played out a 3-3 draw.

(With inputs from agencies)