Indian Hockey Team claimed their fifth Asian Champions Trophy title with a fighting 1-0 victory over hosts China on their graveyard at Moqi Training Base Hulunbuir on Tuesday, Defending Champions India began as favourites in the tournament beating Korea in the Semifinals with complete dominance of young Captain Harmanpreet Singh performances with new face of Indian goalkeeper Krishan Bahadur Pathak after the retirement of legendary goalkeeper PR Sreejesh

India started the contest by defeating China 3-0 in their opening league game, remain undefeated in the tournament

Defender Jugraj Singh scored a rare field goal as the defending champions toiled hard before getting the better of their opponents.

It was challenging for the Harmanpreet Singh to led India against China in the first three quarters to find an angle to breach the Chinese defence in the match. He failed in the first 10 minutes after receiving the penalty against the Opposition.

Jugraj, who entered as a substitute broke the halt in the 51st minute to hand India the win against  Chinese side. China which was playing its only second international tournament final after beating Pakistan in Semis  2-0 in the shootout game after the game ended in 1-1 in regular time.

The Olympic Bronze medalist team Indian captain Harmanpreet Singh was the second highest goal scorer in the Asian Championship Trophy followed by YANG Jihun of Korea.

It was a closely-fought match and in the first two quarters, India had more scoring opportunities. Despite this, China defended deep and launched swift counterattacks, keeping their rivals on edge.

Raj Kumar Pal (midfielder) had India’s first shot on goal, but Chinese goalkeeper Wang Weihao made the save. Raj Kumar quickly recovered, earning India a penalty corner in the 10th minute with some impressive stick work.

Just two minutes later, Nilakanta Sharma’s effort was restricted by Wang, who again showed quick reflexes to deny Sukhjeet Singh from Jugraj’s pass. In the final moments of the first quarter, India conceded a penalty corner, but goalkeeper Krishan Bahadur Pathak stood strong.

The second quarter followed a similar pattern, with India dominating possession and China relying on counterattacks. Despite their pressure, India’s attempts were consistently met with strong defence from the hosts. In the 27th minute, Sukhjeet Singh earned another penalty corner, but Harmanpreet missed the shot at post, leaving the score 0-0 in first half.

Post break, China came out with energy, launching several attacks that resulted in penalty corner in the 38th minute, but the Indian defence stood like a wall against them. China’s aggressive play earned them two corners in the 40th minute, but Pathak solidly defended the goal.

India’s young guns, who had performed well throughout the tournament, managed to break through China’s defence multiple times but couldn’t succeed. It took brilliant attempt from Captain Harmanpreet to finally unlock the Chinese defence. He dribbled into the circle with skillful art play with hockey stick and set up. Jugraj calmly slotted the ball past the goalkeeper, giving India lead in the game.

China had dominated possession 66-34 throughout the game. They pulled their goalkeeper for an extra field player with just four minutes remaining, but India managed to defend well to secure the win.