A stunning performance from India, indeed! The intensity was there, as was a sense of purpose and determination. Consequently, it came as no surprise that they pulled off a thrilling 3-2 win over South Korea in a Pool B match of the 7th Asia Cup hockey tournament on Monday.

With this third win, India have virtually assured themselves of a semifinal spot.

There were stand-out individual performances from man of the match Ignace Tirkey and Sardara Singh. Forwards SV Sunil, Tushar Khandekar and Roshan Minz had the right ideas and set-piece formations.

Those diving attempts from the three forwards would have certainly had the Koreans' hearts in their mouths. At the end of the day, what needs to be appreciated is that the team is looking and playing like a unit, something which obviously is bound to produce results.

Tirkey impressive

A lot of credit should most certainly go to former skipper Dilip Tirkey for his role in defence, as also for sending in precise passes into the circle. 

However, there were a few departments where India looked a little slack. Take the aerial ball, for example. There were nearly a dozen aerial balls relayed from the Indian to the rival 25-yard line.

There was hardly anything useful about them. Also, compared to the Koreans, the Indian passing and trapping was not as sharp.

With the partisan Indian crowd drowning the handful of Korean fans at the almost full Mayor Radhakrishnan stadium, it was a delight to watch as the match progressed. But the beginning was not so.

The Koreans were a sharp lot, and their speed was eye-catching. Any counter-attack looked amazingly quick and gave the Indians some tense moments. They took the lead in the ninth minute when drag-flicker Jang Jong Hyun sent in a flick which no Indian could counter.

India earned a penalty corner just after that but it was frittered away. A resultant long corner saw Dilip send the ball well into the circle, and Shivendra slotting a deflection home in the 21nd minute.

The Koreans were back in the lead seven minutes later. And what a stunner it was from Kang Seong Jung! Having got the ball from the left from Kim Chul, Kang turned around and slapped the ball hard into the ground. The ball rose enough to fox goalkeeper Baljit Singh and enter the goal.

Ignace's equaliser for India in the 31st minute was also quite a good one. Having got the ball from the left flank, Ignace deflected the ball in with great precision.

Goal of the day

The best goal of the day was the match-winner by veteran Prabhjot Singh, off a Bimal Lakra feed. Though Prabhjot didn’t have the best of days in terms of speed, he was quick to capitalise on this chance.

It was a well-measured pass from Lakra, who had taken a hit from much beyond the 25-yard line. The Korean defenders were all on the right flank and close to the edge of the circle. The neat pass from Lakra and the tap-in by Prabhjot left the Koreans in utter disbelief.

Though the second half saw the Indians miss out on some chances, they did well to hold the Koreans at bay and take the match. It was India’s second straight win over Korea, following their 1-0 victory in the bronze-medal match in the Sultan Azlan Shah tournament earlier this year. India and Korea have played 57 matches in all, with India winning 22 and Korea 23. Twelve were drawn.

Results:

Pool A: Japan 7 (T Yamabori 2nd, 28th PC, 46th PC, 65th PC, 67th, 70th PC, Yoshida Kazuo 23rd PC) bt Hong Kong 1 (Ali Arif 53rd PC); Pakistan 8 (Md Imran 5th PC, Abbas Haider 23rd, 27th, Tariq Aziz 25th, Ihsan Ullah 40th PC, Imran Khan 63rd PC, Rehan Butt 64th, 65th) bt Singapore 0.

Pool B: China 13 (Hu Hui Ren 14th, 25th PC, 27th PC, 54th PC, 66th PC, 70th PC, Meng Jun 20th, 68th, Yu Yang 31st, 32nd, Lu Feng Hui 35th PC, 38th PC, Meng Lizhi 64th) bt Thailand 0; Bangladesh 3 (Rasel Mahmud 4th PC, Md Mamun 46th PS, Md Zahidul Islam 49th PC) bt Sri Lanka 2 (Hettiarachchi 31st, Panditharathne 58th PC); India 3 (Shivendra Singh 21st, Ignace Tirkey 31st, Prabhjot Singh 35th) bt Korea 2 (Jang Jong Hyun 9 th PC, Kang Seong Jung 28th).

Tuesday's matches: Hong Kong vs Singapore (3.00 pm); India vs Bangladesh (5.00 pm); Japan vs Malaysia (7.00 pm).