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Asian Champions Trophy 2023 ran from August 3 to August 12 at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium in Chennai. Hockey returned to the city for the first time since the 2007 Men's Asia Cup.
India, who couldn't qualify for the final in the 2021 Asian Champions Trophy, produced an amazing display at home and became the first team to lift the trophy for the fourth time. They also remained unbeaten throughout the tournament, finishing the league stage at the top of the table.
Malaysia, who had to withdraw from the 2021 edition due to COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions, finished second in the points table and ended as the runner-up for the first time in history. Malaysia featured in five editions of the Asian Champions Trophy before this year. They consistently finished in third spot.
South Korea entered the competition as one of the favorites. The defending champions had a decent tournament, where they finished third in the league stage, and in the 3/4 place play-offs, they grabbed the fourth spot.
Japan, who ended India's dream in the 2021 Asian Champions Trophy by defeating them in the semi-final, clinched third spot in Chennai. Japan and India met in the last edition's semi-final with the latter emerging victorious. Japan then defeated South Korea in this 3/4 playoffs to finish in third.
Pakistan, the three-time champions, had a forgettable tournament in Chennai. They had only two wins in the whole edition, both of them coming against China. Pakistan edged past China in the league stage, and they gathered another victory in the 5/6 place play-offs.
China was the only team to end the tournament without any victory. However, the team had significantly improved compared to previous editions, and they had several positives to take from this year's tournament. One of them has to be their performance against India. Though the team had lost 7-2 against the hosts, they managed to score two goals for the first time in history against India in any international match.
Top 5 goal scorers of the Asian Champions Trophy 2023
The tournament witnessed some of the finest performances from the six teams. A total of 91 goals were scored across 14 matches, with Harmanpreet Singh leading the charts.
#1 Harmanpreet Singh (9 goals) - India
Indian captain Harmanpreet Singh was the star performer of the tournament. He led the team from the front and scored nine goals overall in the tournament. Notably, he had scored in every single match of the Asian Champions Trophy 2023.
#2 Muhammad Khan (5 goals) - Pakistan
Pakistan might not have had a season to remember in Chennai but Muhammad Khan turned out to be one of the leading goal-scorers of the 2023 edition. He scored twice against Japan, including a 55th minute, once against China in the league stage and twice in their 5/6 place playoffs.
#3 Firhan Ashari (4 goals) - Malaysia
Firhan Ashari was the top scorer for Malaysia and helped them in their impressive run to the final of the Asian Champions Trophy 2023. Two of his goals came against Pakistan, and another two came against China.
#4 Abu Kamal Azrai (4 goals) - Malaysia
Abu Kamal Azrai also scored four goals for Malaysia in this edition. He scored in the early minutes of the semi-final, helping Malaysia to clinch a massive victory over Korea.
#5 Jonghyun Jang (4 goals) - Korea
Jonghyun Jang was impressive, as usual, for South Korea. The veteran scored against China, helping them to draw the match in the league stage. He scored twice in the 3/4 place playoffs against Japan as well.
