Men in Blue win 5-4 to set up title clash against Pakistan today
India’s Talwinder Singh (left) celebrates a goal against Korea in the Asian Champions Trophy semis in Kuantan, Malaysia on Saturday
Kuantan (Malaysia): Goalkeeper PR Sreejesh starred in front of the goal on Saturday to help India beat South Korea in the penalty shootout and set up a mouth-watering title clash against arch-rivals Pakistan in the fourth Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament, here.
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Sreejesh saved the South Korea’s last attempt to secure the hard-fought 5-4 win in the shootout after both the teams were locked 2-2 at the end of regulation time.
Sreejesh saved off Lee Dae-Yeol to clinch the victory and seal India’s place in the final. This is India’s third entry into the final of the Asian Champions Trophy. Later in the day, Pakistan prevailed 3-2 in the penalty shootout of the second semi-final after the regulation period ended in a 1-1 draw.
Talwinder Singh gave India the lead in the 15th minute, but the Koreans scored the equaliser through Seo In-Woo’s in the 21st and then took the lead from a penalty stroke conversion by Yang Ji-Hun in the 53rd.
The match went to shootout after Ramandeep Singh scored made it 2-2 for India in the 55th minute.
In the shootout, Sardar Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Akashdeep Singh duly scored to give India all five successful strikes in the shootout.
Korea, too, converted all their four attempts. It all came down to the last Korean shot and Sreejesh rose to the occasion to deny Lee to seal the affair.
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