India beat Pakistan 6-4 in the inaugural men's Hockey 5s Asia Cup final on penalties on Saturday, September 2 and qualified for the final to be held in Muscat, Oman in January 2024. This was the first win in three meetings for the Indian men's hockey team in the tournament against Pakistan, having lost the first two matches.
India were 2-4 behind before Mohammed Raheel scored a brace to take the game to the penalties before Gurjot Singh and Maninder Singh scored one each in the penalties to help their side beat Pakistan for the first time in the tournament and rather decisively as the Men in Green failed to score in the penalties as both Arshad Liaqat and Muhammad Murtaza missed.
Pakistan opened the scoring in the fifth minute before Jugraj Singh equalised for India a couple of minutes later. In the 10th minute, Maninder Singh got India in the lead, however, not for long as Rana Abdul and Hayat Zikriya scored back-to-back to help Pakistan get to a 2-3 lead. Liaqat Arshad extended his side's lead with a goal in the 19th minute before Mohammed Raheel's magic in the last 10 minutes got it back for India.
Earlier, India got into the final with a convincing 10-4 win over Malaysia in the semi-final while Pakistan defeated Oman 7-3 in their semis clash. Following the win, Hockey India announced a cash prize of INR 2 Lakh for all the players and INR 1 Lakh for the members of the support staff.
