South Asian Games: Pakistan beat India 1-0 in hockey final

Greenshirts have won the event three times in a row after triumphs in 2006 and 2010

KARACHI: Pakistan Whites made a hat-trick of titles in the South Asian Games’ hockey event as they beat India 1-0 in a nail-biting final to clinch gold at the Tayebulla Hockey Stadium in Guwahati, India on Friday.

Pakistan started with the traditional attacking against the young Indian team, which only had Olympian Gubraj Singh as its sole senior player.

They had a chance to open the scoring early on through a penalty corner in the eighth minute but Aleem Bilal hit wide of the mark.



Pakistan kept the ball brilliantly but could not find a way through as the young Indians defended stoically. The closest they came in the early stages was when Haseem Khan’s reverse flick deflected onto the post and out in the 23rd minute.

The Men in Green finally had their breakthrough in the 35th minute as Awaisur Rehman scored the opener just before the half-time break.

Tempers flared early in the second half as Pakistan’s Kashif Ali and India’s Gubraj exchanged heated words.

India upped the ante, looking to find the elusive equaliser but could not do so despite registering six shots at goal, two of which came from penalty corners.

The final whistle led to wild celebrations from those in green as the two-time defending champions won the event for the third time in a row.

Pakistan have earlier beaten India in both the 2004 and 2010 finals in Colombo and Dhaka, respectively, while India won the gold in 1995 in Madras.