Dhaka: The spirited Korean squad held the reigning Champions to a dramatic 2-2 draw today at the Maulana Bhasani Hockey Stadium, denying the Indian Men’s Hockey Team a winning start to their campaign at the Men’s Asian Champions Trophy. Lalit Kumar Upadhyay (3′) and Harmanpreet Singh (33′) scored for India, while Korea’s recovery was fueled by Jonghyun Jang (42′) and Kim Hyeongjin (46′).
Although India ruled the first and second quarters with greater ball possession (58 percent) and more circle penetrations (14 for India vs. 8 for Korea) while the Koreans recovered in the third and fourth quarters with a solid defensive structure to deny India any scoring opportunities.
Following Lalit’s early game field goal, which he converted wonderfully after handling the ball after receiving an aerial feed in the attacking circle, India created another great opportunity in the second quarter with Akashdeep Singh’s tomahawk from the left top of the circle. However, India’s advantage was cut short owing to a stunning stop by Korean goalkeeper Kim Jaehyeon. When India earned their first PC of the match only minutes before the conclusion of the second quarter, he came up with another spectacular save.
Harmanpreet Singh scored a viciously shot penalty corner in the 33rd minute, extending India’s lead to 2-0 after the ten-minute half-time break. However, making it India’s third unsuccessful attempt on the PC. Even though India generated multiple opportunities in the minutes that followed, they were unable to capitalize, with Korea’s successful entry inside India’s circle.
Their strategy of forcing India to commit defensive blunders paid off, as India conceded the game’s first penalty corner in the 42nd minute. Jonghyun Jang successfully placed the ball past India’s goalkeeper Krishan Pathak after two retakes. This goal energized the Korean offense, which had been sluggish in the opening two quarters.
In the last quarter, they kept pressing the Indian defense and even scored in the 46th minute when Kim Hyeongjin completed a superb field goal that India’s youthful goalkeeper Suraj Karkera couldn’t save. India created PCs in the last minutes but were unable to convert, resulting in a 2-2 tie.
Concidententally in 2017, during their victorious Asia Cup campaign, India drew 1-1 with Korea at the same location. In that triumphant performance, Korea was the only team India had not defeated.
India will face Bangladesh at 15: 00hrs (IST) on Wednesday, December 15th.
