Asian Champions Trophy: India bag bronze as Manpreet Singh and Co defeat Pakistan in a thriller

India were made to toil hard before getting the better of arch-rivals Pakistan 4-3 in a pulsating third-fourth place contest to clinch the bronze medal at the Asian Champions Trophy men’s hockey tournament in Dhaka on Wednesday.

Having topped the round-robin stages, the Tokyo Olympics bronze medallists were far from their best in their last two games, and the Manpreet Singh-led side had to play out of its skin to outwit Pakistan and finish on the podium.

After being stunned by Japan 3-5 in the semifinal on Tuesday, India needed to respond in less than 24 hours. They did press hard and created numerous chances, including 11 penalty corners, out of which they scored from two.

India, who were the joint defending champions along with Pakistan in the last edition of the tournament in Muscat, will thus return with bronze.

The Indian team took the lead in the very first minute through vice-captain Harmanpreet Singh before Sumit (45th), Varun Kumar (53rd) and Akashdeep Singh (57th) struck a goal each.

Pakistan’s goals were scored by Afraz (10th), Abdul Rana (33rd) and Ahmed Nadeem (57th).

It was India’s second win over Pakistan in the tournament after having beaten them 3-1 in the round-robin stages.

India started the match on a bright note, pressing the Pakistani defence…

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