FIH Hockey Men's Series Finals: India crowned champions; defeat South Africa 5-1 in the finals

In the final encounter of the FIH Men's Series Finals, it was Indian hockey team who came out all guns blazing to clinch the trophy when they handed a 5-1 defeat to South Africa at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The home team showcased their superiority from the word-go, with Varun Kumar (2') and Harmanpreet Singh (11') netting one goal each in the first quarter, and Harmanpreet scoring his second goal via penalty stroke (25') to make it 3-0 in the next quarter. India showed glimpses of their class again in the second half, dominating the proceedings and Vivek Prasad adding the fourth goal (44') soon after and Varun Kumar adding his second goal to make it 5-0 for the hosts. Richard Pautz pulled one back for South Africa in the 52' minute.

100% win record in the FIH Men’s Series Finals

After a thumping victory over Japan last night in the semi finals of FIH series finals in Bhubaneswar, India was confident before taking on the other finalist South Africa tonight.

South Africa after securing third place in the group stage won its crossover match against Russia and then the semis against USA. On the other hand, India remained unbeaten in the whole tournament.

After a 10-0 thumping over Russia, India made it two out of two after edging past Poland 3-1. Another massive win against Uzbekistan was followed by the hammering of Japan (7-2) in the semi-final clash to secure a place in the Olympic qualification..

2019 has been a year of ups and downs for the Indian men’s national hockey team, having lost the final of 28th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup against South Korea in penalties. Then they had a good time in the tour of Australia in May. The Indians had earlier played South Africa on the opening day of 2018 Hockey World Cup and beaten them by a 5-0 margin. India, the highest ranked team in this competition was supposed to ease past each of its opponents, which was exactly what the team produced. This will give the unit - loads of confidence ahead of the Olympic qualifiers where India will face much tougher teams in the build-up to the mega event in Tokyo next year.