Korea halt India’s winning run

Defending champions South Korea halted India’s winning spree when the former drew their first match of the Super-four stage 1-1 in the 10th Hero Asia Cup Hockey at the Maulana Bhashani National Hockey Stadium yesterday.

Lee Jungjun slammed goal for the redshirts in the third quarter, whilst Gurjant Singh struck the draw-making goal for the blueshirts in the fourth quarter.

Two-time Asia Cup champions, India, have a good track record of lifting global titles in their kitty including winning World Cup trophy in 1975 and lifting Olympic trophy eight times.

In that contrast, defending champions South Korea’s global achievement have nothing to say except runners-up in Olympic in 2017.

Even though the men in redshirts have no significant global accomplishment, they are not a pushover at international stage what they proved in the initial two quarters as both sides could not break the standoff of the match during the 30-minute period despite having some scoring chances.

Among the first half chances, the most praising chance, set by Ramandeep Singh, was on the 14th minute of the first quarter but Ramandeep missed to capitalise due to his nervousness.

On the other hand, South Korea waged a combined attack on the initial 10th minute but the onrushing Cho Suk Hoon failed to connect his stick.

Actually both India and South Korea made a cautious start and attempted to strike at their opposition arc keeping the defence ready for the counter-attack. While such situation was going one in the action-packed match under the floodlight of the newly-furnished turf, Lee Jungjun broke the stalemate with reverse flick and put South Korea ahead when just four were left for the third quarter.

After conceding the goal especially in the fourth quarter, India were desperate to restore the advantage and came out of the shell and staged an all-out attack shifting their initial playing strategy.

At this moment when the tempo of the match on the peak, the men in blues lodged two reviews for penalty corners on 57th and 58th minutes respectively. But review umpire gave negation mark on both occasions.

But the men in blues had to wait for just one minute when Manpreet Singh’s powerful hit was defected with a player and later Gurjant

Singh rifled the team home from the close distance to level the advantage for the title-hopeful, who launched their Asia Cup campaign in Dhaka with 5-0 win over Japan. Therefore, they downed Bangladesh by 7-0 and Pakistan by 3-1 on way to their Super 4 stage.

Korea halt Indias winning run

Defending champions South Korea halted Indias winning spree when the former drew their first match of the Super-four stage 1-1 in the 10th Hero Asia Cup Hockey at the Maulana Bhashani National Hockey Stadium yesterday. Lee Jungjun slammed goal for the redshirts in the third quarter, whilst Gurjant Singh struck the draw-making goal for the blueshirts in the fourth quarter. Two-time Asia Cup champions, India, have a good track record of lifting global titles in their kitty including winning World Cup trophy in 1975 and lifting Olympic trophy eight times. In that contrast, defending champions South Koreas global achievement have nothing to say except runners-up in Olympic in 2017. Even though the men in redshirts have no significant global accomplishment, they are not a pushover at international stage what they proved in the initial two quarters as both sides could not break the standoff of the match during the 30-minute period despite having some scoring chances. Among the first half chances, the most praising chance, set by Ramandeep Singh, was on the 14th minute of the first quarter but Ramandeep missed to capitalise due to his nervousness. On the other hand, South Korea waged a combined attack on the initial 10th minute but the onrushing Cho Suk Hoon failed to connect his stick. Actually both India and South Korea made a cautious start and attempted to strike at their opposition arc keeping the defence ready for the counter-attack. While such situation was going one in the action-packed match under the floodlight of the newly-furnished turf, Lee Jungjun broke the stalemate with reverse flick and put South Korea ahead when just four were left for the third quarter. After conceding the goal especially in the fourth quarter, India were desperate to restore the advantage and came out of the shell and staged an all-out attack shifting their initial playing strategy. At this moment when the tempo of the match on the peak, the men in blues lodged two reviews for penalty corners on 57th and 58th minutes respectively. But review umpire gave negation mark on both occasions. But the men in blues had to wait for just one minute when Manpreet Singhs powerful hit was defected with a player and later Gurjant Singh rifled the team home from the close distance to level the advantage for the title-hopeful, who launched their Asia Cup campaign in Dhaka with 5-0 win over Japan. Therefore, they downed Bangladesh by 7-0 and Pakistan by 3-1 on way to their Super 4 stage.