File photo of Harmanpreet Singh.© X (Twitter)
Defending Champions India remained unbeaten in the Hero Asian Champions Trophy as they registered their fourth consecutive victory with a 3-1 win against Korea here at the Moqi Hockey Training Base on Thursday. Skipper Harmanpreet Singh (9', 43') scored a brace in India's win while Araijeet Singh Hundal (8') gave an early lead in the team's win. Having already booked a place in the semifinals, India looked to continue their winning ways against Korea in their penultimate league-stage match.
The defending champions showcased this intent very early in the match with a stupendous 8th minute goal by Araijeet Singh Hundal. It was a fierce cross pass by Vivek Sagar Prasad that was picked up well by Hundal from the top of the circle to scoop it in. In the following minute, Skipper Harmanpreet Singh scored from a PC to extend India's lead to 2-0. This was Harmanpreet's 200th international goal.
Korea, who registered a fantastic 3-2 win against hosts China to climb up to second spot in the points table, were not going to let India have it easy. After shaking off the nerves in the first quarter, Korea bounced back with tactical defense, curbing Indian attackers from keeping the ball possession. In the last seven minutes of the second quarter, they punished India with interjections and counter attacks, eventually setting up a PC in the 30th minute of the match. Jihun Yang, who had scored a goal in their win against China yesterday, came up with a fine PC execution to narrow India's lead to 2-1.
The third quarter saw both India and Korea trade equal number of PCs with each earning four. However, only India could successfully put one in the net, with Harmanpreet coming up with a powerful dragflick to fetch his team a strong 3-1 lead. India played this quarter patiently, and constructed a compact attack to stay ahead of a tactful Korea. Meanwhile, Krishan Pathak held sway at the goalpost to keep Korea from scoring.
The final quarter saw India do well as they dominated with ball possession, and resorted to half-press that led to potential counter attacks. Though Korea made ambitious attempts to score, Suraj Karkera did well in the goalpost to ensure India don't concede a goal. India will take on arch-nemesis Pakistan in their next encounter.
Hero of the Match, Suraj Karkera of India said, "Korea is no easy team to beat but our mantra today was to defend well. In terms of pressure, there is none as Coach has given us freedom to play our game. We have trained with Sreejesh over the years and though it is a big shoes to fill in, we try to do our best."