India defeated South Korea 5-3 in a hard-fought semifinal to enter the title clash of the men’s hockey competition at the Asian Games here on Wednesday.
The Indians, who had an easy run in the pool stages recording big wins, were made to toil by the Koreans despite taking a 3-0 lead in the first quarter.
India, who won a bronze in the last edition, will be eyeing a repeat of the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, where they won the yellow metal.
A gold in the ongoing Asian Games is of huge significance for the Tokyo Olympics bronze medallists as it will ensure their direct entry into the 2024 Paris Games.
Hardik Singh (5th minute), Mandeep Singh (11th), Lalit Kumar Upadhyay (15th), Amit Rohidas (24th) and Abhishek (54th) were the goal-getters for India, while Manjae Jung (17th, 20th, 42nd) scored a hat-trick for Korea but it went in vain. The Indians started from where they had left in the pool stages and came out attacking from the onset.
It was all about Indian attack and Korea’s defence in the opening quarter as the Harmanpreet-led side mounted continuous raids on the opposition defence. It took just five minutes for India to take the lead through Hardik, who scored from a rebound after Lalit’s initial try was saved by Korean goalkeeper
Jaehyeon Kim.