World champions Australia captured their 15th Champions Trophy title after a pulsating final against India in the final edition of the series at the De Bredase Hockey and Bandy Club Stadium.
The Australians won the title 3-1 after a penalty shoot-out when the match ended 1-1 at regulation time.
For India, they are now destined not to win any title at this prestigious event, which they have played 17 times.
The final is a repeat of the 2016 event where the match as also decided on a penalty shoot-out.
The match at the regulation time stood at 1-1- with a lot of goal scoring chances at both ends.
In the shoot-out, the Indians could only manage to slot in one goal through Manpreet Singh.
The Australians scored through Aran Zalewski, Daniel Beale and Jeremy Edwards.
For the Australians, it was a tremendous achievement in a tournament they have graced 36 times. They only did not play in the 2004 edition.
Only five teams will go down in history as having won the tournament. They are Australia, Germany, Holland, Pakistan and Spain.
It proved to be a fast-paced game with India being dominant in the first half. They also three penalty corners but poor execution robbed them of taking the lead.
The Australians maintain a more defensive stand but a penalty corner earned in the 24th minute proved fruitful.
Blake Gover’s high flick to the right was deflected into goal by Indian goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh. The Aussies held the sway at halftime.
In the 42nd minute, the Indians managed to draw level when Vivek Prasad scored a field goal after a quick counter-attack.
The match was still played at a fast pace with both sides having chances in front of goal.
India’s best chance came n the 57th minute when a goalmouth melee saw Manpreet failing in front of the goal.
The match ended at 1-1 in regulation time with a shoot-out called to decide the winner.
Earlier Holland took third place when the defeated reigning Olympic Champions Argentina 2-0 in the classification match.
The Dutch scored twice in the fourth quarter to earn a spot on the podium.
Jeroen Hertzberger scored form the penalty corner in the 47th minute to give his team the advantage.
And in the 54th minute, a field goal from Mirco Pruijser saw them winning the tie.
Argentina had four penalty corners in the last quarter. But their specialist scorer Gonzalo Peillat failed to find the target.
He still tops scored in the tournament with six goals.
World number Three Belgium ended the tournament in fifth place after a penalty shoot-out with Pakistan.
The match for fifth placing ended 2-2 at the regulation time but the Belgians prevailed 2-1 in the shoot-out to take the match.
At the regulation time the Belgians scored their goals through Tom Boon off a penalty stroke conversion in the 27th minute. Florent van Aubel then added the second in the 34th minute from a field attempt.
For Pakistan, Ali Shan scored early in the 17th minute while Touseeq Arshad saved the match with a last-gasp penalty corner to send the game into a penalty shoot-out.
During the shoot-out, Felix Denayer and Arthur de Sloover scored for Belgium while only Abu Mahmood converted for Pakistan. – BY S. RAMAGURU
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RESULTS
Final: Australia 1 India 1 (Australia wins 3-1 after penalty shoot-out)
Third placing: Holland 2 Argentina 0
Fifth placing: Belgium 2 Pakistan 2 (Belgium 2-1 after penalty shoot-out)
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How they finished
1.Australia, 2. India, 3. Holland, 4. Argentina, 5. Belgium, 6. Pakistan
