India and Pakistan were declared joint-winners of the 2018 Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament after heavy rain led to the final being abandoned in Muscat, Oman on Sunday.
No play was possible after torrential rain accompanied by lightining and thunder prevented play from starting in the much-anticipated final.
With this result, India and Pakistan have now both won the tournament thrice.
In the third/fourth playoff earlier, Malaysia — under former India coach Roelant Oltmans — defeated Japan after a shootout to clinch the bronze medal.
An inconsistent Indian team had managed to get the better of Asian Games gold medallist Japan 3-2 on Saturday in the semi-finals, while Pakistan defeated Malaysia through a penalty shoot-out after their semi-final had ended 4-4 in regulation time.
India had a lready beaten Pakistan in this tournament – a 3-1 win in the round-robin stage inspired by Manpreet Singh – despite the men in green taking the early lead. India had also beaten Pakistan in the bronze-medal playoff at the Asian Games in August.
