India beats Korea to enter semi-finals

India scored through Rupinder Pal Singh (1st minute), Chinglensana Singh (4th), Lalit Upadhyay (15th), Manpreet Singh (49th) and Akashdeep Singh (55th), while Korea’s goals came from the sticks of Manjae Jung (33rd, 35th) and Jonghyun Jang (59th). By virtue of this result, India is leading in Pool A with 12 points from four victories. The title holder will play lowly Sri Lanka in its last pool engagement.

Even though it was India’s fourth consecutive win in the pool, it was a far from impressive display from Harendra Singh’s men against the Koreans. In its previous three games, India had thrashed Indonesia 17-0 before registering a record 26-0 win over Hong Kong China and 8-0 victory over Japan.

Going by international ranking, the gulf between world no.5 India and its no.14 opponent was quite evident in the first two quarters, but the Koreans gained confidence after the change of ends, and surprisingly, controlled the game in the third quarter. But it was India who started with a bang and scored as early as the opening minute when Rupinder scored from the spot after being awarded a penalty stroke.