TIL Desk Sports/ The Indian men’s hockey team on Thursday qualified for its maiden Champions Trophy final and assured itself of a medal by virtue of Great Britain’s 3-3 draw against Belgium in London.
The top two teams – Australia and India – will now meet in the summit clash on Friday. India have seven points from five games, while Australia, who have already qualified for the final, sit comfortably at the top with 13 points.
Earlier, India were defeated 2-4 by a dominant Australian side in their last league match. This was India’s second loss in the tournament, while the Aussies are unbeaten so far. After a unproductive first half, Australia struck a brace of goals to stay 2-0 in their favour going into the half time.
From there on, the Australians dominated and notched up yet another goal to take a 3-0 lead. But India woke up with a goal from Raghunath via a penalty corner conversion in the 44th minute to make it 3-1.
India played their best game in the last minute before the third quarter and within first two minutes of last quarter, but were quiet in the second quarter, and allowed the Aussie forwards to sneak through their defence and score freely.