Mohali, Nov 4 Shilanand Lakra and Dilpreet Singh struck a brace each as five-time champions India thrashed South Korea 8-1 in the second semifinal to enter the men’s Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament final here on Wednesday.
Lakra scored in the fourth and 13th minutes, while Dilpreet found the target in the 21st and 25th minutes. Captain Harmanpreet Singh (9th), Sukhjeet Singh (21st), Angad Bir Singh (36th) and Vivek Sagar Prasad (54th) were the other goal scorers for India who made it to the final for a record-extending seventh time.
Sangjun Han (9th minute) pulled one back for South Korea.
Asian Games gold winners India will face Japan in the final on Thursday.
Japan beat Malaysia in the penalty shootout 5-3 after the two teams were locked goal-less in the regulation time in the first semifinal earlier in the day.
India had beaten South Korea 8-0 in the round-robin stage also.
The hosts remained unbeaten in the tournament so far. They had topped the six-team round-robin league after winning all their five matches.
India led 6-1 at half time, scoring three goals each in the first two periods. The hosts earned four penalty corners in the match, while South Korea got none.
It was Lakra who gave India an early lead in the fourth minute from a field effort. However, South Korea equalised in the ninth minute with Sangjun Han scoring a field goal.
India continued their domination with frequent forays in the opposition circle and in the process secured a penalty corner in the ninth minute. Skipper Harmanpreet made no mistake from the chance.
Four minutes later, Lakra scored his second goal of the day off a rebound from a penalty corner as India took a 3-1 lead.
India continued their dominance over South Korea in the second period, scoring three field goals in five minutes. Sukhjeet scored from a field effort in the 21st minute and seconds later, Dilpreet found the net from a field play.
Dilpreet completed his brace through a field effort in the 25th minute as India took a 6-1 lead.
The final two periods of 15 minutes yielded one goal each for India. Angad Bir Singh extended India’s lead just six minutes after half time from a field play.
Vivek Sagar Prasad then struck another field goal in the 54th minute to complete the rout.
India head coach Craig Fulton said the first half dominance was the deciding factor.
“First half was very good. We put them under a lot of pressure. In first half and third quarter created a lot but couldn’t miss a lot of chances. But I think the damage was done in the first half which was good,” Fulton said later.
He said the team would look for a fast start in the summit clash against Japan on Thursday.
“Japan is playing well so it’s not going to be easy. But at the same time, we’re scoring some nice goals and we’re pressing well. We want a fast start and that’s how we want to set it up. It’s about us and it’s about us taking our chances and defending well.
“You want to win the final so you want to perform, so we’ve just got to come back to our basics, our basic game and real structure. Good structure and then we can play. We try different things with different teams all the time.
“We have one player less for now (due to Abhishek’s injury), so we just got to also conserve energy and make sure that we have a good first half and then continue strong.”
On the status of striker Abhishek’s ankle injury just before the match against Japan, Fulton said, “He’s close but not yet (recovered). So I just give him more time and the last thing we want to do is injure him. Forcing him to play, he doesn’t have to play so we just, we have time.
“But it’s difficult because we only play with 15. So we played 3 games now with 15 players.”
Asked if Abhishek will be in Thursday’s final, the head coach said, “He’s in the squad, so we’ll see what happens.
(PTI News)
