Rupinder Pal Singh continued to stamp his authority in the 4th Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament as he converted two penalty corners to help India defeat Malaysia 2-1 here on Wednesday.
Opening the scoring in the 12th minute, Rupinder saw Malaysia equalise through Razie Rahim’s drag flick in the 18th minute, but got into the goal-scoring act again two minutes from the end to clinch India a win in the crucial outing and top the league standings.
India survived some anxious moments as Malaysia posed a serious challenge in the second half and even got a penalty corner in the dying seconds, but the defenders held their ground.
Rounding off its five outings with four wins and a draw, India topped the round-robin league standings with 13 points and now awaits the results of the last couple of games on Thursday to find out who it plays in the semifinal.
Malaysia, with nine points from four matches, takes on South Korea, while holder Pakistan plays China.
The result: India 2 (Rupinder 12, 58) Razie Rahim (18).
South Korea 4 (Kim Juhun 4, Jung Manjae 32, 49, Kim Seung-Hoon 44) bt Japan 3 (Kazuma Murata 8, Hiroki Sakamoto 44, Kenta Tanama 45) . — PTI
