Rupinder Pal Singh opened the scoring in the very first minute when India were awarded a penalty stroke. Chinglensana Singh made it 2-0 in the fourth minute
Jakarta: India continued their domination in men’s hockey as they stormed into the semi-finals with a fourth consecutive victory at the ongoing Asian Games in Indonesia.
On Sunday, India, the defending champions, defeated Korea 5-3 at the GBK Hockey Field. This was India’s fourth success in a row in Pool A. They sit on top of the table with 12 points.
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Rupinder Pal Singh opened the scoring in the very first minute when India were awarded a penalty stroke. Chinglensana Singh made it 2-0 in the fourth minute.
Soon after the start of the second period, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay scored. India led 3-0 at half-time.
In the next 30 minutes, India found the target twice while allowing their opponents to score thrice, including a last-minute penalty corner conversion. This was the first game where India conceded goals in the ongoing tournament.
After a good show in the first two quarters, India saw Korea bouncing back and the lead was cut to 2-3 by the end of the third quarter. Manjae Jung (33rd and 35th minutes) scored while India failed to find the target in the third period.
However, Mandeep Singh increased the lead to 4-2 in the 49th minute. Later it was Akashdeep who made it 5-2 in the 56th minute. Korea pulled one back in the final minute through Jonghyun Jang, who converted a penalty corner in the 60th minute.
At the Games, India started off their campaign by thrashing hosts Indonesia 17-0, then hammered Hong Kong with a record 26-0 verdict and produced yet another top-class performance against Japan with 8-0 scoreline.
So far, India have scored 56 goals in four matches and conceded only three.
In their last round-robin group match, India face Sri Lanka on August 28.
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