India denied a win by defensive Korea; draw at 2-2 in Asian Champions Trophy opener

Dhaka : The Indian Mens Hockey Team was denied a win at Hero Mens Asian Champions Trophy.

Instead, a determined Korean team held the Champions to an exciting 2-2 draw here at Maulana Bhhasani Hockey StadiumLalit Kumar Upadhyay (33), and Harmanpreet Sing (33) were the Indian winners, while Jang Jong Hyun (42’) and Kim Hyeong Jin (46’) won in Koreas resurgence.

India dominated proceedings with better ball possession (58%), and more circle penetrations (8 for India, 8 for Korea) in the first and third quarters.However, the Korean team rallied to a solid defensive structure in the fourth and fifth quarters and denied India the chance to score.

India took an early lead in the match with Upadhyays field goal.He converted the ball brilliantly, after receiving an aerial pass from the attacking circle.

India had another great opportunity in the second quarter thanks to Akashdeep Singh’s tomahawk at the top of the circle.However, India was unable to extend their lead due to a superb save by Kim Jae-Hyeon, a Korean goalie.

Another brilliant save was made by him when India took their first victory of the match just minutes before the close of the second quarter.Varun Kumar took the shot that bounced off Kis pads, but Mandeep Mor (a newcomer) was able to save the ball from Ki.India increased their lead to 2-0 after the half-time break of ten minutes with Harmanpreet Singhs fiercely hit penalty corner.After the two previous attempts were stopped by Koreas rusher, this was Indias third attempt at the computer.

Despite India creating many chances over the next few minutes, it was not able to find success even though Korea had begun to gain inroads in Indias circles.India was forced to concede the first point of the match by Indias defense tactic.

Jang Jong-hyun was able to pass the ball over Indias goalie Krishan Paak after two retakes.The goal helped the Korean attack which was a bit lackluster in the opening two quarters.

They continued to challenge the Indian defence in the final quarter and even found success in the 46th minute when Kim Hyeongjin converted a fine field goal which could not be stopped by Indias young keeper Suraj Karkera.The final few minutes saw India create PCs but could not convert, thus settling for a 2-2 draw.

Incidentally, India had drawn against Korea 1-1 at the same venue in 2017 during their successful campaign at the Hero Asia Cup.Korea was the only team India had not beaten in that victorious outing.Post-match, Skipper Manpreet Singh expressed his disappointment but at the same time was confident the team would bounce back from this draw.

"Korea were really good today with their defence and their goalkeeper was quite outstanding.We expected them to give us a hard time and hence it was important we started well.

But we couldnt keep up that momentum going into the third and fourth quarter.Nonetheless, this was the first match of the tournament and we surely will bounce back tomorrow against Bangladesh," stated the India captain.

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