Mohali News: In what can be termed as the repeat of the league Phase clash, India today crushed South Korea by 8-1 thus again displaying its sheer dominance in a one side semifinal encounter.
The Olympian Balbir Singh Senior International Hockey Stadium here became a proud witness to the par excellence stickwork of team India.
It was the first time the stadium hosted an International match thus gaining a place of pride on the world sports map.
The dignitaries present on the occasion and who applauded Team India’s win included Finance Minister, Punjab, Harpal Singh Cheema, Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr. Balbir Singh, MP from Sangrur Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, MLA Mohali Kulwant Singh, World Cup Hockey winning Captain Ajitpal Singh, Aslam Sher Khan, Zafar Iqbal, Olympian Balbir Singh Randhawa, Rajinder Singh Senior, Grandson of legendary Hockey player Late Balbir Singh Senior – Kabir Singh.
Now, India would meet Japan in the final to be held on November 5th at the same venue.
Dashing Shilanand Lakra opened India’s account by scoring a Field goal in the 4th minute itself. But the Koreans didn’t waited too long and equalized in the 9th minute through a Field goal by Sangjun Han. After that it was a goal spree by the Indian players. Captain Harmanpreet Singh converted a penalty corner in the 9th minute, Shilanand Lakra also scored through a penalty corner in the 13th minute, Sukhjeet Singh and Dilpreet Singh scored in the same minute i.e. the 21st. Both scored Field goals. Just four minutes later in the 25th minute Dilpreet Singh again scored a Field goal making the score 6-1. Then in the 36th minute Angad Bir Singh netted a Field goal taking score to 7-1. The 8th goal was netted by Vivek Sagar Prasad in the 54th minute taking the score to 8-1. It was a field goal.
In another Semifinal which went down to the wire, both Japan and Malaysia played their hearts out but remained goalless at the end of full time. In the Penalty Shootout, Japan trumped Malaysia 5-3.
For Japan, the goalscorers were Kazumasa Matsumoto, Ryoma Ooka, Tsubasa Tanaka, Haruki Ochiai, & Seren Tanaka.
Aiman Rozemi, Shello Silverious and Abu Kamal Azrai scored for Malaysia.
Earlier, China bruised Bangladesh 3-1 to be placed on 5th position in the tournament. For China, Yulai Zhao opened the scoreline through a field goal in the 10th minute. Then Yaqi Wang sounded the board through a Field goal in the 18th and the Chinese Skipper Chongcong Chen found the opposing team’s net in the 22nd minute through a penalty stroke. For Bangladesh the only goal it managed to score came from a penalty corner in the 48th minute and the goal scorer was Shohanur Muhammad Rahman.
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