A ruthless India thrashed China 7-0 in their final Super 4s match to storm into the final of the men’s Asia Cup hockey tournament here on Saturday.The Indians controlled the game from start to finish and scored through Shilanand Lakra (4th minute), Dilpreet Singh (7th), Mandeep Singh (18th), Raj Kumar Pal (37th), Sukhjeet Singh (39th) and Abhishek (46th, 50th).India, thus, topped the Super 4s standings with seven points ahead of defending champions Korea, who were second with four points.India will play five-time champions Korea in Sunday’s final for a place in next year’s World Cup to be jointly hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands.
China and Malaysia will lock horns in the third-fourth place match, also on Sunday. Korea had earlier produced a spirited performance to register a come-from-behind 4-3 win over Malaysia in a must-win Super 4 match.
Indian domination from start to finish
Against China on Saturday, it was complete domination from the Indians throughout the match as the play was mostly inside the Chinese half. The Indian defence was hardly tested in the match as China found it difficult to penetrate the hosts circle. India did not concede a single penalty corner in the match.
The Indians didn’t waste to assert their supremacy in the match as they pressed hard from the word go. Their efforts paid dividends in the fourth minute when Shilanand broke the deadlock. It was skipper Harmanpreet Singh’s inch-perfect aerial ball from half line that found Jarmanpreet Singh on the right flank, whose pass was neatly stopped and pushed in by Shilanand.It was relentless from the Indians as, after scoring, Shilanand earned a penalty corner for his side minutes later.
Harmanpreet’s initial flick was saved by Chinese goalkeeper Weihao Wang, but Dilpreet stationed himself at the right place to find the net from the rebound and double India’s lead.In the 13th minute, Sanjay came tantalizingly close to adding another but his slap shot from the left corner went just wide.
India secured their second penalty corner in the 18th minute and Mandeep made the scoreline 3-0 by scoring from a rebound after Vivek Sagar Prasad’s shot was saved by the Chinese custodian. The Indian attackers were all over the Chinese circle, and in the 23rd minute, Hardik Singh’s fierce shot was kept at bay by an alert Wang. India continued in the same vein after the change of ends and came close to scoring but Dilpreet’s powerful high shot was acrobatically saved by the Chinese goalkeeper’s extended hands. But it didn’t take long for India to find the net again with assist from Dilpreet. The goal was set up by Vivek Sagar Prasad, who found Shilanand on the left. Shilanand passed it on to Dilpreet, whose high ball from the left was neatly tapped in by Raj Kumar in the 37th minute.
Minutes later, India earned a penalty corner but wasted the chance.But in the 39th minute, India made it 5-0 through Sukhjeet, who scored with a diving slap shot after being set up Sumit and Dilpreet.It was raining goals from India as Abhishek registered his name in the scoresheet just after the start of the final quarter after being set up by a fine one-to-one play from Dilpreet and Sukhjeet.Abhishek scored his second of the day with a fierce reverse hit four minutes later after receiving a fine deflection from Shilanand.Earlier, the defeat against Korea threw Malaysia out of the final race.
Road to the final: Points and standings
Korea’s goals were scored by Hyenhong Kim (24th, 51st), Seyong Oh (44th) and Jungjun Lee (50th).Malaysia scored through Fitri Saari (9th), Aiman Rozemi (29th) and Syed Cholan (31st).Korea were trailing for most part of the first three quarters, but they didn’t give up and pressed hard in the final 15 minutes, which resulted in two goals in a span of one minute to surge ahead for the first time in the match.
Korea were trailing 1-2 at half-time before being down 1-2 in the opening minute of the third quarter. But their fortunes turned in the 44th minute when Oh brought down the equation to 2-3.That was the impetus Korea needed as they pumped in two quick goals in the final quarter to seal the match in their favour.Kazakhstan finish seventh