Indian boys go down fighting 1-2 to Australia in Sultan of Johor Cup final

The junior Indian men's hockey team went down fighting 1-2 to Australia in the final of the Sultan of Johor Cup in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, on Saturday (October 18). Ian Grobbelaar opened the scoring from the top of the circle in the first quarter before Anmol Ekka levelled things up off a penalty corner in the second. Grobbelaar scored yet again in the final quarter to help his side clinch their third title of the tournament.

After losing three successive gold-medal games against India, Germany and Great Britain, Jay Stacy's team held their nerve even as the Indians earned a flurry of penalty corners at the death but failed to convert any.

Both teams had plenty of chances to increase the tally in an exciting opening half but a number of narrow misses and some impressive work from the goalkeepers prevented more goals from being scored in the gold-medal game of the Sultan of Johor Cup.

Gurjot Singh's deft deflection off a long ball drilled into the circle from Amir Ali narrowly missed the mark in the 10th minute, with the Indians displaying their attacking intent early.

Ian Grobbelaar opened the scoring for the Aussies off their first penalty corner in the 13th minute.

Anmol Ekka got onto the scoresheet for the Indians off a follow-up penalty corner in the 17th minute.

The Indians won two back-to-back penalty corners at the end of the second quarter with Aussie goalkeeper Magnus McCausland having to pull off a couple of sharp saves.

A period of intense pressure led to three short corners for India in the opening minute of the second half, but the Aussie defence refused to be beaten.

Oliver Stebbing's shot struck an Indian foot in the circle, allowing the Australians to earn two penalty corners in the 57th minute, with Bikramjit Singh doing well to come up with a vital save.

Captain Rohit broke early while defending a penalty corner in the 58th minute, forcing the Indians to defend the set piece with one runner less.

Sreejesh's boys stopped a couple of corners, but Ian Grobbelaar's low drag flick beat Bikramjit Singh to enable Australia to take a 2-1 lead. India manufactured a series of penalty corners at the death. but were unable to beat Magnus McCausland in goal.

India at the Sultan of Johor Cup down the years

Sreejesh's boys had lost to Australia in the pool phase of the Sultan of Johor Cup as well- Source: Getty

The Indians finished fourth in the inaugural edition of the Sultan of Johor Cup in 2011 before losing to Germany 2-3 in the final the following year. Manpreet Singh captained his side to a gold-medal win in the 2013 edition of the tournament with India defeating Malaysia 3-0 in the final.

The Indians won the tournament for a second successive time in 2014, getting the better of Great Britain 2-1 before the Brits turned the tables by winning the 2015 final in a shootout 2-2 (4-3).

Two consecutive silver medals came India's way in 2018 and 2019 before they beat Australia 1-1 (5-4) to win the 2022 Sultan of Johor Cup.

After settling for bronze in 2023 and 2024, India has now won silver ahead of the Junior World Cup next month.

Edited by Subhashish Majumdar