South Asian Games Pakistan beat India 1-0 in 2016 Men’s Hockey final won gold medal
By. Asghar Ali Mubarak
Guwahati .India –The Pakistan hockey team beat India 1-0 in the final of the South Asian Games at the Tayebulla Hockey Stadium in Guwahati, India on Friday night .this was Pakistan Whites hockey team third victory against arch-rivals and completing a hat-trick of titles. The winning goal was scored by Pakistani rising star Awais Rehman in the second quarter of the game. India lost 1-2 Pakistan in the group game the Pakistan Men’s Hockey Team, Coach Rehan Butt congratulated the team wins their third South Asian Games title on the trot. They defeated India in the 2006 South Asian Games final in Colombo as well as the 2010 South Asian Games final in Dhaka. With a 2-1 win already in the bag over their arch-rivals in the group stages, Pakistan team were at start of the game confident of defending their crown. “ This was a team effort to win a gold in India ‘’,” captain Mohammad Irfan told the Daily Mail after his side wining gold medal, Pakistani team in won their all games 3-0, 2-1 and 6-0 win over Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh. “We were hopeful of a win the final as we have already defeated India in the group stages.” Captain Mohammad Irfan stated. Meanwhile, forward Mohammad Arslan Qadir, who has consistently been effective against India as he scored both the goals in the 2-1 group-stage win and slotted the winner in the 4-3 win over India in the 2014 Champions Trophy final, stated that this credit goes to team spirit to repeat match-winning performance in final against the same opponent. “The juniors were under a bit of pressure to face India in a final but the seniors helped ease their nerves it.”The Green shirts lift the crown as they are currently the only side to remain unbeaten in the tournament and have a historical advantage of defeating their rivals twice at the same stage of the Games — in the 2004 and 2010 finals. By claiming three silver and 11 bronze medals on the sixth day of the Games, Pakistan took their medal tally to 72 and remained on third position, with a total of eight gold, 22 silver and 43 bronze medals. India lead with 237 medals — 139 gold, 78 silver, 20 bronze — followed by Sri Lanka with 151 medals — 25 gold, 50 silver, 76 bronze.
