India suffered a heart-breaking 3-2 loss to Great Britain to return with the silver medal from the eighth Sultan of Johor Cup under-18 hockey tournament.
The silver, however, enabled India to better its last year’s bronze medal finish. Great Britain, which finished runner-up last year, secured its second title by virtue of Saturday’s win.
The summit clash was a repeat of the round robin match between the two, which too Britain won by the same score.
India made a strong start, earning an early penalty corner and capitalising on it. Vishnukant Singh scored from a rebound in the fourth minute.
India enjoyed the lead for just three minutes as Britain drew level through Daniel West’s field goal.
The second quarter witnessed an even contest.
Britain upped the ante in the third quarter and scored two crucial goals in the 39th minute and 42nd minute through James Oates that changed the course of the match. A 3-1 lead gave Great Britain the edge going into the final quarter.
The Indians did manage to reduce the scoreline in the 55th minute through Abhishek but they failed to get another shot at goal.
