India seal third spot in Hockey Asian Champions Trophy after thrilling 4-3 win over Pakistan

India defeated Pakistan 4-3 in the third-place playoff match of the 2021 Men's Hockey Asian Champions Trophy. Both teams made it to the semi-finals but were stunned by Japan and South Korea respectively. It was a thrilling contest with both teams keen to pip their opposition.

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India started the match with a bang with Harmanpreet Singh scoring India's first goal in the match. It was his 8th goal of the tournament. However, Pakistan was not too far behind and levelled the score with a brilliant goal by Arfraz. The first quarter ended with both teams at 1-1.

Both teams tried hard but failed to net a goal in the second quarter. However, soon after the start of the second half, Pakistan took a lead thanks to a brilliant goal by Abdul Rana. Just as when the game looked like drifting away from India, Sumit scored an equalizer to end the third quarter at 2-2. The final session was an epic battle between the two Asian Giants. However, India were a notch above their arch-rivals. Varun Kumar scored the 3rd goal for India before Akashdeep Singh gave India a 4-2 lead.

Pakistan tried to make a comeback when Ahmed Nadeem dodged a goal with three minutes to go. However, India held their nerves to win the game and seal the third spot.