Indian lads triumph fair and square

Somesh got a green card early on and was little peeved at that. He came up with a perfect tap to give India the breakthrough off a Imtiaz Ahmed cross.

The fourth minute goal acted as a springboard for the Indians to go in for fresh kills. Imtiaz Ahmed came up with a similar effort three minutes later.

The artistry of the Indians was in full flow and the good gathering were subjected the some excellent brand of hockey. Though Bangladesh played a power game it came to nought against the collective brilliance of the Indians.

After being two goals down, Bangladesh reworked their strategy and slowly started attacking from the right flank and duly pulled one back sending their good number of supporters delirious with joy.

Maksud Alam sent in a stinger to the roof of the net off Asharul Pass. The 16th minute effort went a long way in keeping the contest alive.

India, who were denied a goal in the opening minute when Amarjit Singh banged in a penalty corner, made the scoreline 3-1 just a minute before the breather.

Off a penalty corner, Tomba Singh pushed the ball and it went in after a slight deflection from Bangladesh goalkeeper8217;s pads.

Sri Lankan umpire ruled that the ball did not sound the boards, but Indians were not shaken and got on with the job forcing as many as 12 penalty corners against just two by Bangladesh.

Indians started consolidating on changing ends as Chinnappa made it 4-1 after Tirkey8217;s penalty corner had the sting and the guile to upset the Bangladesh defences.

Bangladesh reduced the margin 4-2 again in the 47th minute when Samsuddin8217;s accuracy proved too much for the Indian goalkeeper Suraj Kanta.

Despite a comfortable lead, Indians did not let-up the pressure before Somesh Kanta closed the affair with a classy reverse flick in the 49th minute.

Indians had double delight when Amarjit Singh was adjudged Player of the Tournament and Tirkey received the top scorer award. To top it all, Indians also clinched the Fair Play trophy also.

In a placement match, Malaysia redeemed some pride outplaying Singapore 3-0 while Oman edged Japan 4-3 to take the fifth place and Sri Lanka swamped Thailand 5-1 in the fight for the play-off for 7th and 8th places.