South Korea defeated Pakistan in the first semi-final of the Asian Hockey Champions Trophy played at Dhaka’s Maulana Bhashani National Stadium on Tuesday.
Korea booked their place in the final round after winning the match by 6-5 goals.
Pakistan captain Umar Bhutta said that the team played well in the match but two goals from the penalty strokes served a major blow to the team.
Pakistan fail to qualify for the final of the Asian Hockey Champions Trophy, for the first time since inception of this tournament.
Japan stunned India 5-3 in the second semi-final to book the final berth against South Korea.
Pakistan put up a strong fight but failed to edge past the opponents as two goals in the first quarter served a major blow to the team.
Koreas’s Jang Jonghyun was the star of the show with four goals. Meanwhile, Korean goalie Jaehyeon Kim also deserves equal appreciation for denying Pakistan so many chances.
Pakistan were the joint defending champions with archrivals India in the 2018 edition in Muscat, Oman as poor weather conditions did not allow the match to take place.
INDIA’S LOSS: Japan started off with a flurry of attacks and penalty corners against defending champion India before gaining a two-goal cushion.
The Indians fought back with a goal at the start of the second quarter but a penalty stroke towards the end helped Japan maintain the two-goal lead.
Later, a defensive lapse from the Tokyo Olympics bronze medallists led to the fourth goal before Japan made it 5-1 towards the end of the third quarter.
In the intense fourth quarter, Harmanpreet Singh scored a goal to reduce the deficit. A penalty corner rebound helped India to net one more goal but their unbeaten run ended with the loss versus Japan.
India will now face Pakistan for the bronze today.
