Hulunbuir (China), Sep 12: India maintained their fine run in the 8th edition of the Asian Hockey Champions Trophy with an impressive 3-1 victory against Korea at the Moqi Training Base in China on Thursday.
The star of the Indian win was captain Harmanpreet Singh, who netted two goals. However, despite losing the intense battle, the Koreans fought bravely and forced India to sweat hard for a victory.
Paris Olympics 2024 Bronze medallist India have earlier defeated China 3-0, Japan 5-1 and Malaysia 8-1. The Indians have already entered the semifinals with 12 points.
Harmanpreet scored a brace while Araijeet Singh Hundal found the back of the net for the Men in White & Orange. It was Araijeet, who scored the first goal of the match in the 8th minute.
It was a special day for skipper Harmanpreet Singh as he scored his 200th goal for India at the highest level becoming only the third Indian to do so. Overall, he is the 12th player to complete 200 goals in international hockey.
Korea scored their solitary goal through Jihun Yang's penalty-corner strike at the half-hour mark. Though they tried hard to bounce back, but Harmanpreet's double strikes enabled India to emerge victorious.
Craig Fulton's men will next take on arch rivals Pakistan in their final Pool match on Saturday.
Asian Champions Trophy 2024, the six-team tournament is being played in a round-robin format. The top four will advance to the semifinals on September 16, followed by the final on September 17.
