Just a few months ago, the Indian Hockey was showing signs of revival. But that turned out to be an illusion, as the team produced worst performance at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup Hockey tournament. The only silver lining was they defeated the arch-rival Pakistan to bring some solace to their countrymen, which have turned against the hostile neighbour due to the tension at the LoC and Kashmir Valley.
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India fought hard in the first match against Australia, but lost 3-4. It was termed as a commendable performance for the young team, which were up against the formidable Kangaroos. But, in the second match against South Korea, Indian players disappointed and produced lacklusture performance to go down 1-2 in the end.
With an exciting 3-1 victory over Pakistan, there were some hopes that India could still make it to the final. However, defending champions New Zealand dashed their hopes with a 2-0 victory on March 14. With just one match to be played against Malaysia on Saturday, India crashed out of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup Hockey tournament in a shameful manner.