Rajgir (Bihar): Dilpreet Singh scored a brace as a dominant India defeated defending champions South Korea 4-1 to win the men’s Asia Cup hockey tournament after a hiatus of eight years and qualify for next year’s FIH World Cup, here on Sunday.
With four titles in their bag, India have become the second-most successful team in the Asia Cup behind five-time champions Korea.
India had last won the title in 2017 in Dhaka following successes in the 2003 (Kuala Lumpur) and 2007 (Chennai) editions of the continental tournament.
The title ensured India’s direct entry into next year’s FIH World Cup to be jointly hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands from August 14 to 30.
Dilpreet (28th, 45th minutes) and Sukhjeet Singh (1st) scored fine field goals while Amit Rohidas (50th) converted a penalty corner in front of a packed stadium at the Rajgir Sports Complex.
Korea’s lone goal was scored by Dain Son in the 51st minute.
India were on the ball from the start and looked determined. The co-ordination between the defence, midfield and forward line was a treat to watch as they penetrated the rival circle frequently.
The Koreans, on the other hand, preferred to defend, which was not the best of idea against an attacking home side.
The Koreans hardly created any real scoring chances in the first two quarters as the Indian defence stood tall.
India opened the scoring inside the first 30 seconds of the game through Sukhjeet.
It was skipper Harmanpreet Singh’s brilliant stick-work from the left flank that set it up for Sukhjeet, who found the top-left corner of the Korean goal with a reverse hit.
Dilpreet Singh came close to scoring in the eighth minute but his deflection off Vivek Sagar Prasad’s pass was saved by Korean goalkeeper Jaehan Kim.
On the very next move, India earned a penalty stroke but Jugraj Singh’s try was saved by Kim.
The Indians were relentless in their attacking forays as they kept the Korean defence under tremendous pressure.
An inch-perfect aerial ball from Harmanpreet found Sanjay on the left corner, and he passed it to Dilpreet inside the circle, who did the job by putting the ball into the goal as India went into half-time leading 2-0.
Korea’s first real chance came in the 40th minute in the form of back-to-back penalty corners but the Indian defence stood rock solid.
India finally secured their first penalty corner in the 44th minute but Harmanpreet’s try was blocked by the first rusher.
But just at the stroke of the third quarter, India made the scoreline 3-0 through Dilpreet.
It was Harmanpreet, whose free hit from 23 yards found Raj Kumar Pal, who guided the ball towards Dilpreet and the striker made no mistake in finding the net with a neat deflection.
Five minutes later, India secured their second penalty corner and Rohidas found the net with a fierce grounded hit to hand the hosts a comfortable 4-0 lead.
A minute later Korea pulled a goal back through a penalty-corner conversion from Son.
In the 56th minute, Korea got their fourth penalty corner but failed to breach the resolute Indian defence.
Malaysia finish third
Malaysia, ranked 12th in the world, defeated China 3-0 in a classification match to finish third in the tournament.
Malaysia were by far the better side on display than world No. 22 China as they dominated the proceedings and created plenty of scoring chances throughout the match.
Malaysia were on the offensive from the word go and continued in the same vein throughout the match, while China were content sitting behind and defending, a move that backfired.
Akhimullah Anuar (36th, 50th minutes), the tournament’s highest scorer with 12 goals, slotted a brace for Malaysia while Norsyafiq Sumantri and Syed Cholan (58th) were the other goal getters.
Jiesheng Gao (54th) was the lone goal getter for China.
Japan beat Bangladesh to finish 5th
World No. 18 Japan registered a convincing 6-1 win over Bangladesh to finish fifth.
For Japan, Ryosuke Shinohara (15th, 38th, 56th minutes) scored a hat-trick while Koji Yamasaki (9th), Ken Nagayoshi (36th) and Seren Tanaka (50th) found the net once each.
World No. 28 Bangladesh’s lone goal was scored by Amirul Islam in the 55th minute.
