Hockey
Asian Champions Trophy: India cruise past Korea to stay unbeaten
India switched gears when needed and consolidated their position on the table after a 3-1 victory.
India’s domination at the Asian Champions Trophy in Moqi, China continued on Thursday with a solid 3-1 victory over South Korea.
Araijeet Singh Hundal opened the scoring for India and thereafter, The Indian skipper Harmanpreet Singh scored a brace.
For the Koreans, Jihun Yang score the solitary goal.
With this latest victory, India has all but ensured their qualification to the semi-finals.
Quick off the blocks
As has been the case in each of their three matches thus far, India has been quick off the blocks in the first quarter.
Araijeet Singh Hundal opened the scoring in the 8th minute when he picked up a pass from the right flank in the Korean circle, turned around and smashed the ball into the board.
In the very next minute, India earned a penalty corner and Harmanpreet Singh stepped up and put the defending champions two goals ahead.
A Korean fight-back
From the second quarter onwards, the Koreans staged a strong comeback.
They mounted several attacks, but the Indian defense led by the goalkeeper Suraj Karkera, was resolute in defense.
Korea did however, managed to pull a goal back thanks to Jihun Yang who scored in the 30th minute.
But just when the Koreans were looking to get a grip of the game, India earned a penalty corner against the run of play and Harmanpreet Singh stepped up yet again and drove home a low drag flick to score his 200th international goal and restore the two-goal cushion.
Thereafter, India held on to the ball and ran the clock down to post their fourth win on the trot which continues to keep them on the top of the table.
Suraj Karkera shines
The Player of the Match award went to India's Suraj Karkera, the goal keeper.
Speaking to the broadcasters after the match, Suraj reflected on the confidence levels of the team at the moment.
"I think the Asian teams are very attacking in terms of defense-to-attack ratio. We played exciting hockey today".
When asked about the pressure of replacing Sreejesh, Karkera said, "There's no pressure, the coach has given us all the freedom. We've been training with Sree-bhai for a while and we know what to do. He's a legend of the game and there's no replacing him. We as goal keepers know our job".
Up next for India is the marquee clash against Pakistan on the 14th of September.