Breda: Australia are crowned champions of the grand finale of the Hockey Champions Trophy 2018 Breda. This is the 15th title for Australia at this event. India were the second finalists and gave the spectators an exciting performance, holding Australia to a one-all deadlock at the end of the match. In the end, Australia won by 3-1 on the penalty shootout. In the bronze medal match, the host nation got the better of the world number two. The Netherlands defeated Argentina with two unanswered goals. Pakistan faced Belgium at the bottom of the pool and lost out to the world number 3 on penalty shootouts.
India dominated the majority of the match, particularly the first-quarter but could not find the back of the net largely due to the composure and sturdiness of the World number 1 side, Australia. The men in Green and Gold fought back and took the lead through a second-quarter penalty corner drag-flick from Blake Govers, with India goalkeeper PR Sreejesh managing to get a glove on the shot but not enough to stop the ball from traveling into the goal. India scored their equaliser in the third quarter when Vivek Prasad crashed a superb volley past Australia shot-stopper Tyler Lovell, a man who played a significant role in the shoot-out when the scores fnished locked together at 1-1. In the penalty shoot-outs, the Australian goalkeeper, Lovell stopped Sardar Singh, Harmanpreet Singh, and Lalit Upadhyay from scoring, while Aran Zalewski, Daniel Beale and Jeremy Edwards scored the crucial goals as the Kookaburras won 3-1.
In the first match of the final day, Pakistan lost out to Belgium in the penalty shoot-out after the match ended in a 2-2 draw. Pakistan took the lead through Ali Shan, but the Red Lions were quick to respond and scored twice. The Belgian side maintained their lead until the very last minute Tausiq Arshad pushed the ball past the goalkeeper after a scrambled penalty corner. In the penalty shootout, both the goalkeepers shined, however, Van Doren emerged on top as Pakistan could only manage to score once from the shootout. Belgium won the contest by 2-1.
Final Rankings:
1- Australia
2- India
3- Netherlands
4- Argentina
5- Belgium
6- Pakistan
Individual Awards:
Best Player: Aran Zelewski (AUS)
Best Goalkeeper: PR Shreehesh (IND)
Best Rising Player: Jake Harvie (AUS)
Hero Top-scorer: Gonzalo Peillat (ARG)
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