South Korea retains Asia Hockey Championship title

South Korea beat India 4-3 in the final of the Ninth Asia Cup held at the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Stadium Sunday night to retain the championship title.

With this, South Korea which have qualified for the World Cup Hockey Championship, quashed India's dream to compete at The Hague, Netherlands next year.

South Korea started off aggressively when Jang Jong Hyun opened the scoring in the 28th minute through a penalty corner before You Hyo Sik increased the score via a field goal a minute later.

Trailing 0-2, India went on the offensive but failed to score when its attempts were thwarted by the defenders of the squad under Shin Seok-kyo.

In the second half of the match, India who were awarded a penalty corner, scored its first goal through Rupinder Pal Singh in the 48th minute.

India then equalised 2-2 through a field goal by Nikkin Thimmaiah in the 55th minute.

Two minutes later, Nam Hyun Woo scored South Korea's third goal via a penalty strike.

India equalised again through a field goal by Mandeep Singh in the 65th minute.

India's euphoria did not last when Kang Moon Kweon scored the winning goal in the 68th minute.

Also present to watch the match were the Regent of Perak Raja Dr Nazrin Shah and Malaysian Hockey Confederation president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah.

In another deciding match in the evening, the dream of the Malaysian national hockey team to repeat its feat of garnering third place at the 2007 edition in Chennai, India was shattered by Pakistan when the three-time Asia Cup champions beat Malaysia 3-1.

Mathematically, Malaysia, which are the third reserve team, have confirmed a place to the World Cup at The Hague, Netherlands.