India produced a disappointing performance to lose to arch-rivals Pakistan 0-1 in a lacklustre summit clash of men's hockey at the 12th South Asian Games here on Friday.
Awaisur Rehman scored the lone goal of the match in added time of the first half as Pakistan clinched the gold medal and notched up a hat-trick of titles in the South Asian Games.
The Indians, who could create very few goal-scoring chances and were left to defend the citadel for most part of the match, thus continued their gold medal drought in the tournament. Pakistan had won the hockey gold in 2006 and 2010 editions, beating India in the final on both occasions. India had also lost 1-2 to Pakistan in the group stage of the ongoing Games.
Pakistan straightaway put India under pressure and they had two clear look at the home side goal but an alert goalkeeper, Vikas Dahiya, blocked twice to keep the match in a clean slate.
Pakistan attacked mostly from the right and a Muhammad Rizwan strike was parried by Dahiya. The Indian goalkeeper then denied Pakistan once again in the seventh as he blocked the penalty corner.
In a rare attack against the run of play, India had a close chance in the 21st minute, but Gagandeep Singh shot wide.
The first half saw Pakistan getting a penalty corner which they could not convert. India got no penalty corner and play remained in their own half for most of the first 35 minutes as they could rarely penetrate the opposition circle.
Towards the end of the first half, India got a golden chance as Gagandeep was sent in the clear on the left side of the circle by Antil in the 29th minute. But, Gagandeep's reverse hit went wide even after the ball beat the Pakistani goalkeeper Imran Butt, who came out of his line.
India conceded a soft goal in the added time of the first half as Awaisur slotted home after the reverse hit by Muhammad Arslan Qadir could not be cleared on time by the Indian defenders.
In the second half, the Indians dished out a much- improved show with several raids into the Pakistan circle, but they could not get a goal.
There was a half chance though in the 56th minute for India but Manpreet Singh could not get the final touch in front of goal as a Pakistan defender got a slight touch.
India had a chance to equalise as they got two penalty corners in the end but could not convert them both.