Indian hockey teams progress to finals of Youth Olympic Games Qualifier

Bangkok [Thailand], April 28 (ANI): The junior Indian men's and women's hockey teams continued their fine form at the Youth Olympic Games Qualifiers as they advanced to the final match in their respective categories, here on Saturday.

The junior men's team defeated Bangladesh 9-2 in their semi-final encounter while the junior women's team were also victorious as they beat Malaysia 4-2 in their semi-final match.

The men's semi-final saw India dominate the first period as they scored two goals which were both scored by Shivam Anand (5', 8').

The second period saw India score yet another goal as Shivam completed his hat-trick of goals, scoring in the 15th minute to give India a 3-0 lead going into the final period.

Six goals from the Indian team in the final period were enough for them to see off the challenge from Bangladesh, who only managed to score twice in the match, getting their goals through Sobuj Shohanur (23', 29').

India's other goal-scorers in the match included Rahul Kumar Rajbhar (22', 23'), Maninder Singh (22'), skipper Vivek Sagar Prasad (24') and Mohammad Alishan (26') while Shivam Anand scored his fourth goal of the match in the 24th minute.

The victory for the men's team means that they will be facing the winner from the second semi-final match between Malaysia and South Korea, in the final match of the competition.

Whereas, the women's semi-final match between India and Malaysia saw the former defeat their opponents 4-2 to book their place in the final match.

It was a close encounter in the first period as India's Chetna took the lead for her team in the sixth minute, but the goal was cancelled out by Malaysia's Nor Isahhidun, who scored the equaliser in the ninth minute.

However, India pulled up their socks in the second period and scored two goals through Ishika Chaudhary (14') and Salima Tete (20') to regain control of the match.

Another goal for India towards the start of the third period meant that the team took a 4-1 lead.

The fourth goal for India was scored by Sangita Kumari in the 23rd minute and assured India of a place in the final match as Malaysia could only score once in the final seven minutes, the goal coming from Siti Hussain's stick in the 27th minute.

The women's team will now face a strong China team in the final match of the competition on Sunday, 29 April 2018, while the men's team will be in action against Malaysia or South Korea in the final match.

The five-day tournament is a qualifying event for Youth Olympic Games 2018 to be held at Buenos Aires, Argentina which will follow the futuristic Hockey 5's format. (ANI)