India advances into the finals of the Asian Champion Trophy by beating Korea 4 -1.
India registered a dominant 4-1 win over Korea in the semi-final on Monday to advance into the finals of the Asian Champion Trophy for the second time in a row. The defending champion will be up against the host nation China on Tuesday, who beat Pakistan in the 1st semi final in the shootout. In the semi-final against Korea India’s Uttam Singh scored the first goal (13′) to give India a lead in the semi-final, followed by goals from Harmanpreet Singh (19′, 45′) and Jarmanpreet Singh (32′) and the only goal of Korea was scored by Yang ji-hun (33′).
India played the semi-final as the defending champions; they were on their front foot from the start of the game, with Abhishek forcing a save from Korea’s goalkeeper in the opening minutes, with Jaehan Kim on the reverse. To keep up the pressure, Uttam Singh took the ball and found Raheel, whose close-range shots were saved. The Indian defense countered the Korean counterattack, where forwards broke the attack and Araijeet Singh passed the ball to Uttam Singh, who made it 1-0 in the first quarter.
In the beginning of the second quarter, India earned their penalty corner, and Harmanpreet Singh doubled the lead by scoring a goal. Sukhjeet was focused on keeping the pressure on by continuously attacking the Koreans. Jarmanpreet Singh shoots an Aerial pass collected by Sumit, who hits the 3rd goal and takes the lead forward. After this, the Koreans responded by taking a successful penalty corner and making the score 3-1. The third quarter was going well for both sides, playing strongly and not letting each other score, but a mistake from Korea’s goalkeeper Jaehan Kim gave India a penalty corner, which India’s Harmanpreet Singh turned into a goal and made it 4-1. In the fourth quarter, India kept on pushing over Koreans and not giving them any chances, and at the last 8 minutes, Koreans earned a penalty corner, but they weren’t able to convert it, which led India to win and confirm their spot in the finals on Tuesday against the host nation, China.