Sultan of Johor Cup 2024: Unbeaten India overcome two-goal deficit to beat Malaysia

The Blue Colts consolidated their top spot in the Sultan of Johor Cup 2024 points standings.

Unbeaten Indian junior men’s hockey team registered their third consecutive victory on Tuesday as they comfortably beat hosts Malaysia 4-2 here at the Sultan of Johor Cup 2024. With this win, coach PR Sreejesh’s boys are on top of the points table with nine points while New Zealand are placed second with five points and Australia are placed third with four points.

Sharda Nand Tiwari (11′), Arshdeep Singh (13′), Talem Priyobarta (39′) and Rohit (40′) scored for the Indian junior men’s hockey team while Muhammad Danish Aiman (8′) and Harris Osman (9′) netted for the hosts.

It was, in fact, hosts Malaysia who made a roaring start to the match by putting India on the backfoot early in the game. A quick-fire goal was set up by their captain Muhammad Addy Jazmi Jamlus who assisted Muhammad Danish Aiman to score a fine field goal in the eighth minute of the match. They doubled this lead in the following minute when Osman Harris scored from a PC.

Also Read: Malaysia vs India Highlights

Though the 2-0 lead for Malaysia was a setback, Indian forwards shook off the early nerves and created scoring opportunities. In-form drag-flicker Sharda Nand Tiwari scored the first goal in the 11th minute through a perfectly converted PC.

The Indian junior men’s hockey team equalised in the 13th minute when Arshdeep Singh assisted by Manmeet Singh scored a fine field goal. While the second quarter remained goalless, there was plenty of action in the third quarter with India returning from the half-time break with renewed vigour in their attack.

For the first time in the match, they took a narrow 3-2 lead in the 39th minute when Talem Priyobarta took a successful shot on goal from the edge of the circle. Later, Rohit extended the lead to 4-2 with a fine PC attack.

The fourth quarter began with Malaysia earning a PC, but they were off the mark. In the following minutes, there was a flurry of PC’s won by both teams but neither could come up with a successful conversion. However, India did well to hold on to the 4-2 lead till the final hooter and stay on top of the points table.

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