It almost seems too good to be true — a phenomenal performance from India that has never been seen in recent times. Prabhjot Singh and Rajpal Singh led the goal rush with two strikes apiece as India defeated South Korea 7-2 in the final to retain their Asia Cup title.
It was a stunning show by the Indians in the final at the Mayor Radhakrishnan stadium. Considering their perfromances so far in the tournament, one would have expected a tough fight from the Koreans. But the Koreans surprised too. For, none had expected them to give in so easily.
This is the second biggest win for India over the Koreans after the 1985 Asia Cup in Dhaka, where India they had posted an 8-1 win. Sunday’s triumph also marked India's first title win after the 2003 Asia Cup triumph.
Though Prabhjot did well, he was involved in a heated exchange with Korean defender Kim Chul just after the end of the first half and that led to the two teams almost coming to blows before the officials intervened and cooled matters down.
The Koreans later alleged that Prabhjot hit Kim Chul with his stick. Prabhjot earned a yellow card after the incident. In the second half too, there was an instance when Korean Hong Sung Kweon shot into the goal but Ghanian umpire Richmond Attipoe did not allow it. The Koreans felt it was a goal and refused to play. Again the tournament officials intervened and the Koreans were back in action.
But for these two incidents, it was a very good game for India. There was not much reliance on penalty corners. In fact, just like the previous match, there were some flamboyant field goals from the Indians.
The Koreans just had no answer to the Indian play. Every time they moved till the Indian 25-yard line, they seemed to totally lose control of the situation. The Indians were only too happy and snatched the ball away easily on many, many occasions. Whatever attacks there were, goalkeeper and man of the match Baljit Singh did well to stop them.
Shivendra Singh started the deluge of goals in the fourth minute when he flicked the ball inside after Prabhjot's first attempt was saved by Korean goalkeeper Lee Myung Ho. The Koreans equalised five minutes later when Jang Jong Hyun converted a stroke awarded to them by umpire Chen Dekan.
From then on there was no stopping India as they went on scoring goal after goal. S V Sunil first got into the act and deflected the ball in from Dilip Tirkey's long corner shot in the 13 th minute.
It was then time for Prabhjot to score. In the 31st minute, Tushar Khandekar set up the ball well with a pass from Sardara Singh and Prabhjot had an empty goal in front of him.
Coming back after half-time and leading 3-1 after the incident, it looked like a sober start initially. But the fireworks began again as Rajpal Singh managed to flick the ball inside even with a crowded Korean circle in the 42nd minute.
Prabhjot started a move in the 53rd minute which resulted in India's fifth goal. Prabhjot and Ignace Tirkey juggled with the ball before the latter struck. Rajpal and Prabhjot got the next two goals in the 55th and 64th minute to complete the Korean rout.

Results:
Final: India 7 (Shivendra Singh 4th, S V Sunil 13th, Prabhjot Singh 31st, 64th, Rajpal Singh 42nd, 55th, Ignace Tirkey 53rd) bt Korea 2 (Jang Jong Hyun 9 th PSOh Dae Keun 68th).
Playoffs for 3-4: Malaysia 5 (Kevinder Singh M 4th PC, Selvaraju Sandrakasi 13th, Chua Boon Huat 18th, 22nd, Ismail Abu 64th) bt Japan 3 (Takahiko Yamabori 12th, Katsuyoshi Nagasawa 67th, Kei Kawakami 70th).
5-6: China 3 (De Yunze 12th PS, 54th PC, Hu Liang 68th PC) bt Pakistan 2 (Md Arshad 30th, Rehan Butt 44th).
7-8: Bangladesh 3 (Rasel Mahmud 35th, 59th PC, Md Jahid bin Talib 46th) bt Hong Kong 1 (Ali Arif 23rd).
9-10: Sri Lanka 6 (Summandarathne 14th, Hettiarachchi 27th PC, Abeyrathne 47th, Nimanka Srimal 55th, Jayasundara 65th, Anju Hewage 69th PC) bt Singapore 0.
Final standings: India 1; Korea 2; Malaysia 3; Japan 4; China 5; Pakistan 6; Bangladesh 7; Hong Kong 8; Sri Lanka 9; Singapore 10; Thailand 11.