As sports fans, if we have to pick one — India winning titles and trophies or India beating Pakistan at any event they face — a lot of us will go with the latter, unsurprisingly. But if it so happens that both of them come together, then it is nothing short of a delight. This is what happened on Saturday, where anything the Indian athletes touched, turned into gold. In three separate sports, the Indians showed why they are head and shoulders above the arch-rivals, making it a day to remember for a long time to come.
India Bag Men’s Team Squash Gold, Beat Pakistan in Asian Games Final
The first blow of the day came when the Indian men’s squash team got past the Pakistanis 2-1, in the final of the Asian Games. The trio of Abhay Singh, Saurav Ghosal, and Mahesh Mangaonkar clinched the gold medal and silenced the fans from across the border. In the first match of the India vs Pakistan tie, Mahesh went up against Nasir Iqbal and lost rather easily, 3-0 (11-8, 11-3, 11-2).
In the second match, while chasing the tie, Saurav Ghosal, as expected, delivered the goods against Muhammad Asim Khan. The Indian won 3-0 (11-5, 11-1, 11-3), in a lop-sided encounter. Ghosal moved swiftly across the court and gave a clear indication, as to why he is one the best players in the world, still. But the best was reserved for the last as Abhay Singh and Zaman played a marathon of a match. It went back and forth for the entire duration of 65 minutes, with not much to separate the two. In the end, as fate would have it, the Indian held his nerve to get the gold medal.
The match was full of drama too, as the players from both countries, literally ran into each other a few times. But the Indian team did not get rattled by the mounting pressure and came out on top eventually.
India Toys with Pakistan in Men’s Hockey at Asian Games
This win was the easiest of them all for the Indians. Taking on the world no. 3 side India, Pakistan looked and played like minnows and lost 10-2 against a far superior Indian team. Harmanpreet Singh (11′, 17’, 33′, 34′) scored four goals, while Varun Kumar (41’, 54′) scored a brace. Mandeep Singh (8′), Sumit (30’), Shamsher Singh (46′), and Lalit Kumar Upadhyay (49′) also scored a goal each for India to get the win. Interestingly, this is also India’s biggest win on a hockey field against Pakistan. Not just that, there were other records broken in the game too. This is the maximum number of goals scored in any India vs Pakistan match, and also the most goals scored by India against the arch-rivals.
India vs Pakistan in SAFF Cup Final too
Our U-19 boys were not behind, as they ran over Pakistan in the final of the SAFF U-19 Championship at the Dashrath Rangasala Stadium on Saturday. In their 3-0 win over the arch-rivals, the Indian team looked the better side throughout the match and did not give an inch to the opposition. While in the first half, there weren’t as many opportunities created, it was a total turnaround in the second.
As soon as the star of the side, Manglangthang Kipgen came off the bench for India, the attack started looking threatening. He soon got going as he scored his first goal from outside the box. His next goal came in the 85th minute through a free-kick. In the last goal too, he made an assist to Gwgwmsar Goyary, through which India completed the maul.
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