Asia Cup Hockey: India trounce China, take aerial route to final

Rajgir: Almost directly after pushback, republic of india skipper Harmanpreet Singh launched a long aerial globe from late in defence to an unmarked Jarmanpreet Singh in the Chinese D. The withstander collected the ball before pushing it to an unmarked Shilanand Lakra, who pushed it past goalkeeper Wang Weihao for the home team’s first goal in the final Super 4 Asia Cup tie.

The intent was clear from the start. To counter China’s deep defence and interception of the short passes, the Indian hockey team went all out with an aerial game, which flummoxed the world No.22 unit as the hosts handed a 7-0 hammering.

Lakra (4th), Dilpreet Singh (7th), Mandeep Singh (18th), Raj Kumar Pal (37th), Sukhjeet Singh (39th) and Abhishek (46th, 50th) all scored as world No.7 India flew into Sunday’s final where they will take on defending champions South Korea.

“We couldn’t play the last match against China very well so we changed our plan. After watching the footage of the last match, we saw that they had not allowed our forwards to score. We decided to play the aerial game and pass using scoops. It worked,” said India defender Sumit, who won bronze medals at the last two Olympics in Tokyo and Paris.

Last week, India had looked rusty, porous and lacked venom in their Asia Cup opener in which they just about beat China 4-3. China, by disrupting India’s free-flowing game, intercepting passes and defending deep, had given them a tough time.

But on Saturday, Harmanpreet and Co were the team that intercepted Chinese passes regularly, to trounce a team which is on the rise in the continent. After months, Craig Fulton’s side looked like the outfit that had dominated the continent in the previous couple of years and gone toe-to-toe with the world’s best to win bronze at the Paris Olympics.

Not just their long scoops, India were also brilliant with their 3D skills, bouncing the ball on their stick to dodge several defenders to make in-roads into the striking circle. China were no match to India’s speed at the Bihar Sports University Hockey Stadium here.

Fulton’s ‘defend to win’ mantra was barely brought into use as the match was more or less played in the Chinese half with Indian defenders becoming wall-like every time a Chinese forward would try to get past. It was one of those days when both goalkeepers Krishan Bahadur Pathak and Suraj Karkera could just stand and see their teammates deliver a statement win heading into the final.

Comeback men

India’s onslaught started with Lakra (4th), followed by Dilpreet Singh (7th), who scored the opening two goals. The two comeback men didn’t stop there. They were all over the Chinese defence, threading it to penetrate the circle, assisting two goals each as the match went on.

The 4-1 win over Malaysia, the second highest ranked team here at No.12, on Thursday gave India a lot of confidence as their high press made the Chinese defence crumble.

Harmanpreet’s drag-flick rebound reached Vivek Sagar Prasad, who showed quick reflexes as he passed to Mandeep Singh, who put India 3-0 ahead. India dominated possession and play, controlling the ball and speed as Dilpreet and Shilanand created a lovely ball for Pal to tap in.

A couple of minutes later, Sukhjeet was given a brilliant pass by Dilpreet again which the former easily converted to make it 5-0.

Paris Olympics hero Abhishek scored at the start of the final quarter after a brilliant solo run by Sukjeet. Then on a counterattack, Shilanand created a superb ball for Abhishek, who reverse swept to get India’s seventh and final goal.

Sunday is probably the most important day for Indian hockey this year with a World Cup berth at stake. And it is against the only team India are yet to beat in the tournament, Korea, who rallied to beat Malaysia earlier.

“We’ve just got to play the game and not the occasion. The same process and approach to what we have been doing, getting better and better in certain areas. It’s the final. We’ve got to deliver and we are focussed on doing that,” said Fulton.

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