It was yet another dominating performance from the hosts as India defeat South Africa by 5-1 to lift the trophy.
Though India fumbled initially, the team bounced back stronger to score five goals. The major takeaway from the game was how the players performed after the initial pressure.
While Harmanpreet Singh and Varun Kumar scored twice, Vivek Prasad scored a goal to make five for India. Richard Pautz was the only scorer for South Africa.
With this win, India made sure to stay at number five position in the new rankings which will be released in September.
India 5 (Harmanpreet Singh 2, Varun Kumar 2, Vivek Prasad) bt South Africa 1 (Richard Pautz)
There were a few special awards:
Player-of-the-tournament: Manpreet Singh (India);
Best junior player: Vivek Prasad (India); Best goalkeeper: Jonathan Klages (USA); Top scorers: Harmanpreet Singh (India), Varun Kumar (India) and Semen Matkovskiy (Russia) – six each.
#FIHSeriesFinals #India #Odisha #Bhubaneswar
India’s Coach Graham Reid: “It was a really interesting tournament. There are always things which we can improve. We have a really hard month in July and we go to the Olympic Games’ test event in August. Busy period!” @TheHockeyIndia— International Hockey Federation (@FIH_Hockey) June 15, 2019
