India lose to Australia via penalty shoot-off in Champions Trophy final

India's quest for their maiden Champions Trophy hockey title has remained unaccomplished. In the summit clash of the 37th and final edition of the prestigious tournament at Breda, the Netherlands, yesterday, India lost 1-3 to defending champions Australia via penalty shoot-off. The match went into the shoot-off after both the teams were locked at 1-1 in regulation time.

The Australian custodian produced a stellar show in the shoot-off, denying Sardar Singh, Harmanpreet Singh and Lalit Upadhayay while Manpreet Singh was the only scorer for India.

Australia, on the other hand, converted their first



two efforts in the shoot-off through Aran Zalewski and Daniel Beale before Indian goalkeeper PR Sreejesh denied Matthew Swann and Tom Craig.

But Jeremy Edwards converted the last try to hand Australia their record 15th Champions Trophy title.

While India won their second consecutive silver medal, hosts the Netherlands bagged the bronze beating Olympic champions Argentina 2-0 in the third-fourth place match.

Belgium finished fifth after beating Pakistan 2-1 in the penalty shoot-off after both the teams were levelled at 2-2 at the end of 60 minutes.