MUSCAT (Oman), July 25: The Indian sub-junior men’s team enjoyed a triumphant Friday at the FIH Youth Hockey5s Asian Championship 2026 in Muscat, defeating arch-rivals Pakistan 7-3 after thrashing host nation Oman 10-1 earlier in the day.
Meanwhile, the Indian sub-junior women’s team put up a hard fight before going down 3-6 against China in their Elite Pool match.
In the marquee match of the day, the Indian Men’s Team produced a high-energy performance to beat Pakistan 7-3.
India took early control of the game and led 3-0 at half-time thanks to goals from Romit Pal (8’), Karan Gautam (10’), and captain Ketan Kushwaha (10’).
India maintained their attacking momentum in the second half with Prahalad Rajbhar (12’) extending the lead to 4-0.
While Pakistan attempted a comeback with goals from Muhammad Usman (12’, 15’) and captain Adeel (17’), strikes from Shahrukh Ali (16’), Rahul Yadav (18’), and Kushwaha (20’) sealed a comfortable win for India.
Earlier in the day, the Indian Men’s Team put on a scoring masterclass against hosts Oman, securing a 10-1 victory. India stormed to a 6-0 lead at half-time, powered by two goals each from Shahrukh Ali (3’, 10’) and Ketan Kushwaha (6’, 8’), alongside strikes from Karan Gautam (2’) and Prahalad Rajbhar (3’). India added four more goals in the second half, with Kushwaha (11’, 19’) completing a four-goal haul, while Gautam (15’) and Rajbhar (16’) netted their second goals of the match. Oman scored a late consolation goal through Khazraj Subait Subait Al-Mashrafi (20’).
In the women’s match, India fought hard in an entertaining contest against China that stood tied at 3-3 at half-time.
Sandeepa Kumari (1’) gave India an early lead while Kiran Ekka (3’, 6’) scored a brace, matching China’s first-half strikes from Guo Jiaxin (2’), Ge Chen (3’), and Lu Tongtong (10’). China pulled ahead in the second half as Guo Jiaxin (13’, 20’) completed her hat-trick and Lu Tongtong (20’) added her second goal of the match to secure the win for China.
The tournament is also the Asian qualifier for the inaugural FIH Youth Hockey5s World Cup.
PAKISTAN LEFT RED-FACED FOR PLAYING SIX PLAYERS
The Pakistan hockey team management was left red faced when the umpires penalized the side for fielding six instead of five players against India in the five-a-side international event being held in Muscat, Oman.
The incident took place on Friday night when as soon as the match started the umpires spotted six Pakistani players on the field whereas only five are allowed.As a result the umpires sent out two players, leaving Pakistan with just three players on the field and India took full advantage of the comic situation slamming in 8 goals.
A reliable source said that when the interim President of the Pakistan Hockey Federation learnt about the incident he was pretty upset and has demanded an explanation from the team management which includes chief coach Tahir Zaman and coaches Rehan Butt, Qamar Ibrahim and Umar Bhutta. Apparently the management has conveyed that the misunderstanding happened because of some players not understanding the communication with the coaches.In the 2022 Men’s Hockey Asia Cup also a similar blunder from the Pakistan hockey team management resulted in Pakistan losing a qualification match to Japan after their late goal equalizer was disallowed as they had 12 players instead of 11. (Agencies)
