India won gold medal in the 5th Asian Schools Boys (U-18) Hockey Championship, which was held at the Aishbagh Stadium in Bhopal from April 4-11, 2017. Indian team, featuring three players from Odisha, prevailed over Malaysia 5-1 in the final today.

The three Odisha players were: Pratap Lakra, Sahil Kumar Nayak and Manip Kerketta. Among the three, Pratap Lakra stole the show, scoring two goals in the final match. The tournament was organized by the School Games Federation of India.

Altogether eight nations participated in the tournament, which was conducted on league-cum-knockout format. Teams played league matches afgter being divided into two pools. Pool A featured Malaysia, China, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates, while Pool B included India, Singapore, Thailand and Nepal.

While Malaysia settled for silver medal, Singapore took the bronze, beating China 3-1 in a nail-biting shootout after the two teams ended the regulation time in 1-1 draw. The prize for top scorer of the tournament went to Ali Shaan of India, who registered a total of 23 goals.

INDIA RESULTS:
April 4: India beat Nepal 24-0.
April 5: India beat Singapore 13-0.
April 7: India beat Thailand 17-1.
April 10 (Semi-finals): India beat China 11-0.
April 11 (Final): India (Alishan Mohammad 12-FG, 34-FG; Pratap Lakra 20-PC, 23-PS; Maninder Singh 38-FG) beat Malaysia (Akhimullah Anuar Esook 32-FG) 5-1

FINAL POSITIONS: 1. India, 2. Malaysia, 3. Singapore, 4. China, 5. Sri Lanka, 6. Thailand, 7. United Arab Emirates, 8. Nepal.

INDIAN TEAM: Sahil Kumar Nayak, Amit, Sanjay, Akash Ekka, Mohammad Saif Khan, Sahib-ur Rehman, Pratap Lakra, Jaspreet Singh, Deepak, Mohammad Alishan, Manip Kerketta, Akhtar Ali, Vinod Saini, Saurabh Pashine, Ravi Kumar, Maninder Singh, Rahul Kumar Rajbhar, Vikas Gour.
Support Staff: NS Saini (Coach), Subodh Khandker (Coach), Shakeel Khan (Assistant Coach), Dr Sourav Singh Kushwah (Physiotherapist), Abdul Naeem (Manager), BB Saxena (General Manager).
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PHOTO: Group photo of Indian of Indian team that won gold medal at the 5th Asian Schools Boys (U-18) Hockey Championship in Bhopal on 11 April, 2017.