And they stormed into the final of the event with a 4-1 win over Japan at the Mayor Radhakrishnan stadium here on Saturday.
In the final, India take on South Korea, who beat Malaysia 2-1 in the first semifinal. This is the first time India have entered the final of a major tournament after the silver medal in the invitational tournament in Gifu (Japan) in 2004. India, had also won silver in the SAF Games in Colombo in 2006.
For India, Prabhjot Singh slammed in two stunning goals, while Shivendra Singh and Roshan Minz netted one apiece.
Japan had shown a lot of spirit during their win over Pakistan in the pool matches but they looked in disarray against the attacking Indians. Shivendra, who was later adjudged the man of the match, was the pick of the lot as he made several searing runs from the flanks. Right from the start, the hosts played an attacking game and made numerous circle penetrations, but were unable to force any penalty corners. They however made up with field goals.
Shivendra Singh scored the first of India's goals in the 22nd minute. It was a good run from the right flank and he just managed to squeeze the ball in from a narrow angle.
Then came the Prabhjot Singh classic. He took the ball all the way from the 25-yard line on the left flank and, after dodging three defenders, shot into the goal in the 23rd minute.
Prabhjot Singh set up India's third goal, which came in the 54th minute. Prabhjot passed to Tushar Khandekar, who in turn relayed the ball ahead to Minz, waiting near the goal-line. With the defence heavily packed, Minz had very little space to get a clear shot. He had to dodge a few defenders before he could send the ball in to  consolidate India's position further.
The fourth Indian goal came in the last minute of play but there was a lot of action before that. Shivendra took another shy at the goal but the ball hit the post. In the 70th minute, it was Prabhjot again in the thick of the action. He had just one defender to beat after he got a pass from Khandekar.
Earlier, it was a below-par performance from Malaysia as South Korea emerged victors. Oh Dae Keun (7th) and Yoon Sung Hoon (60th) scored for Korea, while skipper Azlon Misron (38th) was on target for Malaysia.
Malaysia were hardly at their best. They played a defensive game and were happy to defend their fort. Attacks were far and few in between from the Malaysians and they took the defensive route.
Korea went for goals from the start. There was less of the running with the ball from Korea like in some previous matches. Instead, they preferred to make long passes. They got the ball into the Malaysian circle in a flash. In the Malaysian circle, only one thing stood between Korea winning by a bigger margin – the performance of their goalkeeper Kumar Subremaniam. The man of the match saved three direct flicks from Korean star Jang Jong Hyun and other goal attempts too.
Towards the end, the urgency to try and salvage a goal was evident among the Malaysians as they pushed really hard and attacked from the flanks, mostly from the right. However, the efforts came a little too late.
Results: Semifinals: Korea 2 (Oh Dae Keun 7th, Yoon Sung Hoon 60th) bt Malaysia 1 (Azlon Misron 38th); India 4 (Prabhjot Singh 23rd, 70th, Shivendra Singh 22nd, Roshan Minz 54th) bt Japan 1 (Katsuhiko Yamabori 68th PC).
Classification matches: Singapore 4 (Nee Yong Liang 18th, Shivalingam Johnson 35th, Hazmi Bin Mohammad 53rd PS, 57th PC) bt Thailand 0; Pakistan 10 (Waqas Shariff 8th, Yasir Islam 11th, Tariq Aziz 17th PC, 68th, Muhammad Imran 24th PC, 45th PS, Abbas Haider 50 th, 56th, Muhammad Arshad 63rd, 65th) bt Bangladesh 0; China 6 (Liu Xian Tang 12th PC, 24th, 35th, Huang Wei 29th PC, 41st , Hu Hui Ren 61st PC) bt Hong Kong 1 (Arif Ali 61st PC).
Sunday's schedule: Playoffs: 9-10: Sri Lanka vs Singapore 8.00 am (YMCA ground); 7-8: Hong Kong vs Bangladesh 7.00am; 5-6: Pakistan vs China 9.30am; 3-4: Japan vs Malaysia 4.00pm; Final: India vs Korea 6.00pm.