India has stormed into the semi-finals of the ninth Men’s Asia Cup hockey tournament at Ipoh in Malaysia. In their second Pool-B fixture played a short while ago, India defeated defending champions Korea, 2-0 to win their second consecutive match of the tournament. VR Raghunath in the 6th minute and Mandeep Singh in the 65th minute sounded the board for India.
They had brushed aside Oman 8-0 in their opening match on Saturday. India will play their final pool match against Bangladesh on Wednesday. Bangladesh has lost both the matches played in the tournament so far. They lost to Oman 4-2 today. They had lost to Korea, 8-0 yesterday.
In Pool-A results yesterday, three-time champions Pakistan defeated Malaysia 4-1, while Japan beat Chinese Taipei 5-1 to register their first win in the tournament.
India’s World Cup hopes hinge on this tournament’s triumph, as the event offers its winners an automatic entry into next year’s FIH World Cup, as continental champions.
Earlier, India had wasted an opportunity to book a World Cup ticket, when it failed to secure a top-three finish at the FIH Hockey World League semi-finals in Rotterdam.
India had lifted the Asia Cup in 2003 and 2007, while they finished runners up four times.