Indian hockey team’s excellent performance continues in the Asian Champions Trophy. Five-time champion India made it to the final by defeating South Korea 8-1 in the second semi-final played on November 4. With this victory, the Indian team has entered the title match of the tournament for a record seventh time. The heroes of this spectacular victory of India were Shilanand Lakra and Dilpreet Singh. Both the players increased the problems for South Korea by scoring two goals each. Shilanand scored in the fourth and 13th minutes of the match, while Dilpreet took the ball inside the goal post in the 21st and 25th minutes. Apart from these two, Indian captain Harmanpreet Singh, Sukhjit Singh, Angad Bir Singh and Vivek Sagar Prasad also scored one goal each. The only goal for South Korea was scored by Han Sangjun in the ninth minute.
Goal after goal in the first half
The Indian team adopted an aggressive stance from the very beginning of the match. Shilanand Lakra gave India the lead by scoring a field goal in the fourth minute. However, South Korea did not wait long and Han Sangjun scored in the ninth minute to make the score 1-1. But the Indian team soon strengthened its hold on the match again. Captain Harmanpreet Singh converted the penalty corner in the ninth minute to put India ahead 2-1. Four minutes later, Shilanand Lakra scored his second goal on the rebound from the penalty corner. In this way India achieved a lead of 3-1.
The attack by Indian players continued in the second quarter also. In the 21st minute, Sukhjit Singh made the score 4-1 by scoring a field goal. A few seconds later, Dilpreet Singh also scored a goal. Dilpreet did not stop here and scored his second goal in the 25th minute to give India a huge lead of 6-1. By the end of the first half, South Korea was far behind in the match.
Only 2 goals came in the second half
India added another goal to its account in the third quarter. Six minutes after half time, i.e. in the 36th minute, Angad Bir Singh increased India’s lead to 7-1 by scoring a field goal. After this South Korea tried to make a comeback, but the Indian defense did not give it any chance. The last goal of the match was scored by Vivek Sagar Prasad in the 54th minute. With this goal, India registered a resounding 8-1 victory and sealed their ticket to the finals. India got four penalty corners in the entire match, while South Korea could not get even a single penalty corner.
Will compete with Japan in the final
The Indian team will now face Japan for the title on November 5. Japan defeated Malaysia 5–3 in the penalty shootout in the first semi-final to reach the final. The match between the two teams remained goalless till the scheduled time. India has had a great performance so far in this tournament. The team won all its five matches of the round robin league and topped the points table of 6 teams. The special thing is that India had defeated South Korea 8-0 in the league stage also. Now Team India will be eyeing to win the Asian Champions Trophy title for the sixth time by defeating Japan.
(PTI Inputs)
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