FIH Hockey 5s: India crowned champions, beat Poland 6-4 in final

India pulled a stunning reversal from three goals down to defeat the Polish squad. It was the second win of India against Poland for the day as they defeated Poland 6-2 in their round-robin league match three hours and thirty minutes before the final.

India topped the rankings of the five-team tournament with three ones and one draw on their way to the final.

Poland started the match aggressively as Mateusz Nowakowski in the 1st minute, Wojciech Rutkowski in the 5th minute and captain Robert Pawlak in the 5th minute scored to give Poland a 3-0 lead. However, the Indian side soon composed itself and tightened the defence and launched consecutive attacks. Dhami Boby Singh in the 11th minute and Raheel Mohammed in the 13th minute scored for the Indian side to narrow the lead of Poland to 3-2 going into the half-time.

In the second half, both Dhami Boby Singh and Raheel Mohammed scored their second match goals, while the Polish captain Jacek Kurowski pulled one back in. Eventually, India scored two more goals to wrap up the match as the maiden FIH Hockey 5s tournament champions.

Raheel Mohammed was the top scorer with ten goals from five matches. India defeated Malaysia 7-3, Switzerland 4-3 and tied 2-2 with Pakistan in their first three matches.

The Indian women’s Hockey squad fails to impress

The women’s team of India failed to advance to the final after the tie with South Africa in the second match. They had earlier won against Switzerland 4-3 in the previous game. They could have qualified for the final if they had won against South Africa with a two-goal margin.

The women’s squad ended their campaign at the fourth spot on the five-team chart with four points from one victory, two losses and one draw.