Holders India defeat South Korea, in semis
JAKARTA: Defending champions India didn’t push too hard as they won 5-3 against South Korea on Sunday to reach the men’s hockey semi-finals on Sunday. The holders appeared a bit slow in moving the ball but never lost focus in what was their fourth win in as many matches.
Rupinder Pal Singh, Manpreet Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Akashdeep Singh and K Chengalesana Singh shared five goals whereas captain Manjae Jung scored a brace and Jang Jonghyun shot one for Korea.
Following the blocking of Harmanpreet Singh’s penalty corner hit by a Korean defender in the very first minute, India earned their only penalty stroke in the match which the lanky Rupinder made no mistake in converting to make it 1-0. Within four minutes, Chengalesana intercepted a cross and scored to leave the Koreans struggling at 2-0. The lead helped India raise their pressure on the Korean defence, but custodian Doopya Hong managed to thwart strikes from Mandeep and Akashdeep in quick succession.
Within seconds of the start of the second quarter, Hong managed to clear Rupinder’s flick but an unmarked Lalit exploited the lapse to make it 3-0.
A tense Korea raised their game and created a few chances but lack of co-ordination failed to give them a breakthrough. A change in ends brought some cheer when captain Manjae Jung scored back-to-back goals to reduce the margin to 2-3.
India however went on to score two more goals. Manpreet ran down from the left flank and shot the ball into the net with a reverse hit (4-2) and four minutes before the final hooter Akashdeep scored his first field goal (5-3).
Coach Harendra Singh, while admitting some lapses on their part, said the pace of the match was a bit slow and there should have been more goals if the frontline had been more sincere. “For us, it was a quarter-final match and we were ready for this. Koreans also played well. They fought back even after trailing by three goals. We have learnt many things from the match and our boys are playing well.”