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Journalism of Courage
Five minutes and Diwakar 8216;perfect-108217; Ram. That8217;s all it took for defending champions India to ensure that the junior Asia Cup remains at home, winning the final 3-2 through a golden goal. Last year, India had thrashed Korea in the men8217;s Asia Cup in Chennai to retain the trophy, and on Friday, the juniors followed suit.
The Koreans did everything they were expected to do, and almost walked away with the title. Ten minutes to the final whistle, and leading 2-0, the Koreans could have been excused if they were already celebrating. After all, India had definitely been the better side, creating chances at will, but they almost paid for their profligacy.
Five minutes of Korea playing with 10 men was the opening that India needed to be let loose. Jyon Byung Jin was shown a yellow card in the 59th minute, the Korean defence developed a weak link and Indian forwards struck. Twice, within three minutes. While SV Sunil reduced the margin by taking advantage of a goalmouth melee, a penalty corner conversion by Diwakar Ram made sure the game would go down to the wire. And it did. In the end, it was, rightfully, Diwakar who scored the winning goal for India in the fourth minute of the first half of extra time. With this win, India are assured of a place in the junior World Cup next year. In the bronze-medal playoff, Pakistan thrashed Japan 7-2.
Gill returns trophy
President of the dissolved Indian Hockey Federation IHF KPS Gill relented just in time by returning the original trophy of the junior Asia Cup before Friday8217;s final. Gill had initially refused to hand over the trophy to the ad-hoc committee after he was sacked. He later said he would give the trophy to Hyderabad Hockey Association HHA. The organisers had thought of getting a new trophy but later abandoned the plan after Gill8217;s intention to return it. 8220;A top official of HHA had to fly to Delhi to get the trophy and he came back yesterday with the original one,8221; an ad-hoc committee member said.
