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India clinched a place in the hockey Champions Trophy final for the first time after Belgium drew with Great Britain in their final match of the league stage on Thursday.
After India lost to Australia 4-2 on Thursday, they needed Belgium to draw with Great Britain. Fortunately for India, the two teams were tied on 3-3 at the end of their game.
India, who notched two wins in the tournament will face Australia in the final on Friday. The Quint takes a look at India’s road to the final.
1. India Draw 3-3 With Germany
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India began their Champions Trophy campaign with a 3-3 draw against defending champions Germany on 10 June.
India were cruising to a 3-2 victory from the 36th minute of the match, but Jonas Gomoll converted a 57th minute penalty stroke with a deft flick which helped Germany snatch a 3-3 draw.
After VR Raghunath put India 1-0 up in the seventh minute, goals from Mandeep Singh (26th minute) and Harmanpreet Singh (32nd) gave India a 3-1 lead, but Germany forced a series of penalty corners against a shaky Indian defence.
Two penalty corner conversions by Tom Grambusch in the 25th and 36th minute kept Germany in the contest before Gomoll’s penalty stroke restored parity.
2. India Beat Hosts Great Britain 2-1
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In the second game, India triumphed against Great Britain with a scoreline of 2-1. Mandeep Singh put India in the lead in the 17th minute and Harmanpreet Singh converted a penalty stroke in the 33rd minute to make it 2-0.
Ashley Jackson pulled one back for Britain after converting a penalty corner in the 35th minute, but the Indian defenders and especially goalkeeper PR Sreejesh didn’t allow the opposition to score anymore goals.
Sreejesh saved a number of shots at the goal, four of them on penalty corners in the entire match.
3. India Lose to Belgium 2-1
India registered its first loss in the tournament after going down 2-1 to Belgium. Alexander Hendrickx converted a penalty corner in the 25th minute and India equalised through Devender Walmiki five minutes later, but Jerome Truyens won the day for the Belgians through his field goal in the 44th.
India conceded the two goals mainly due to PR Sreejesh’s lacklustre performance. He let both the goals to be scored through his pads.
4. India Triumph Against South Korea
India bounced back with a 2-1 victory over South Korea, which kept them in the hunt for a medal in the tournament.
SV Sunil put India in the lead on the 39th minute. He exchanged passes with Akashdeep Singh and then side-stepped the onrushing goalkeeper to push the ball into an open goal.
South Korea equalised in the 57th minute through a brilliant deflection by Kim Jun-hu on a long ball into the boards, leaving defender Surender Kumar and goalkeeper Sreejesh stunned.
But India regained the lead within 30 seconds as Talwinder’s diagonal cross from left went wide of the Korean goalkeeper and Thimmaiah deflected the ball into the goal for the winner.
India, who had seven points from four matches had to beat Australia in their final league match to book a place in the final.
5. Australia Beat India 4-2
India ended the league stage on a disastrous note with a 4-2 loss to Australia. Trent Mitton opened the scoring for Australia in the 20th minute and three minutes later Aran Zalewski found the back of the net to make it 2-0.
It went from bad to worse for the Indians, when Flynn Ogilvie made it 3-0 in the 35th minute.
VR Raghunath pulled one goal back for India in the 45th minute, but within 30 seconds, India let Tristian White score the fourth goal for Australia.
Talwinder’s reverse shot from the top of the circle opened up the space for Mandeep to deflect the ball in for India’s second goal in the 49th minute, but thereafter the Australians held their ground and ensured they emerged victorious at the end.
6. Great Britain Draw 3-3 With Belgium
India rested their hopes of making the final of the tournament on the Great Britain-Belgium match. They needed the teams to play out a draw so that India end the league stage with more points than Great Britain and Belgium. And that’s exactly what happened.
The Indian players had to go through a nerve wrecking match but eventually, thanks to Britain’s Barry Middleton’s goal in the 59th minute helped his team snatch a 3-3 draw. And India moved into the final.
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