India continues to keep its slate clean in the Hero Asian Champions Trophy Hockey Tournament at Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium in Chennai. In its fourth game, the home team overcame a spirited challenge from the defending champions South Korea before emerging 3-2 victor for its third win in four games.
India has won its games against Malaysia, Korea and China while playing a draw against Japan.
For Korea, it was its first defeat in four games.
Earlier in the day, Malaysia defeated Asian Games champions Japan 3-1 and Pakistan overcame stiff resistance from China before winning 2-1.
The game between India and Korea was perhaps the best match of the tournament so far. Both the teams left nothing to chance as they matched each other in positional play, man-to-man marking and taking their chances to logical conclusions.
India made its intentions clear right from the beginning as it started raiding the citadel of the Koreans. Tactics paid dividends as Nilakant Sharma hoisted the first goal of the match in the sixth minute following a well-coordinated move that caught the Korean defence on the wrong foot.
Stung by the early reverse, the Koreans fought back by mounting pressure on the Indian goal. In the 12th minute, fast-moving Koreans were successful in restoring parity with a beautiful goal by Kim Sunghyun.
It took another 11 minutes for India to take the lead again. This time it was the turn of the skipper Harmanpreet Singh to make no mistake from a penalty corner award. His drag flick beat the Korean defence cleanly.
Three minutes into the second half, India consolidated the lead with a great opportunist goal by Mandeep Singh after a good move. Koreans, however, refused to give up and fought gallantly till the last minute.
In the 58th minute, they managed to reduce the margin through a penalty corner conversion by Yang Jihun. India managed to hold his citadel for the last two minutes to earn a full three points from an exciting game.
Khan Muhammad (20th minute, penalty corner) and Afraz (39th minute, field goal) paved the way for Pakistan’s narrow 2-1 win over China. Gao Jiescheng scored the consolation goal for China by converting a penalty corner in the 33rd minute.
Malaysia surprised Japan with a 2-1 win thanks to goals by Jazlan Najmi (13th minute, penalty corner) and Hasan Azuan (37th minute, field goal) while Niwa Takuma scored the only goal for Japan in the 59th minute.