Dominant India storm into Asia Cup hockey final with 7-0 win over China

Rajgir (Bihar): India produced a ruthless display to thrash China 7-0 in their final Super 4s match, securing a place in the men's Asia Cup final here on Saturday.

The Indians controlled the game from start to finish, with goals from Shilanand Lakra (4th minute), Dilpreet Singh (7th), Mandeep Singh (18th), Raj Kumar Pal (37th), Sukhjeet Singh (39th) and Abhishek (46th, 50th).

India topped the Super 4s standings with seven points, ahead of defending champions Korea, who finished second with four points. The final on Sunday will see India face five-time champions Korea for a spot in next year's World Cup, jointly hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands. China will play Malaysia for the third-fourth place match.

Skipper Harmanpreet Singh sets up early lead

From the outset, India pressed hard, earning an early breakthrough in the fourth minute. Shilanand Lakra scored after Harmanpreet Singh’s aerial ball from the half line found Jarmanpreet Singh, whose pass was neatly pushed in. Minutes later, Shilanand earned a penalty corner, which Dilpreet converted from the rebound to double the lead.

India continued to dominate. Mandeep scored from a rebound after Vivek Sagar Prasad’s shot was saved in the 18th minute. Hardik Singh and Dilpreet came close to further goals, only to be denied by Chinese goalkeeper Weihao Wang.

India extend advantage in second half

After the change of ends, India found the net again as Vivek Sagar Prasad assisted Shilanand, who passed to Dilpreet for Raj Kumar to score in the 37th minute. Sukhjeet Singh made it 5-0 with a diving slap shot in the 39th minute. Abhishek added two late goals in the final quarter, completing a comprehensive 7-0 victory.

China struggled to breach the Indian defence, failing to earn a single penalty corner.

Korea rally past Malaysia

Earlier, Korea staged a dramatic comeback to beat Malaysia 4-3 in a must-win Super 4 match. Korea’s goals came from Hyenhong Kim (24th, 51st), Seyong Oh (44th) and Jungjun Lee (50th), while Malaysia scored through Fitri Saari (9th), Aiman Rozemi (29th) and Syed Cholan (31st). Korea trailed for most of the match but scored two quick goals in the final quarter to seal the win, eliminating Malaysia from the final race.

Kazakhstan finish seventh

Kazakhstan, the lowest-ranked team at 88th, defeated world No.41 Chinese Taipei 6-4 to finish seventh. Agymtay Duisengazy scored five goals (12th, 23rd, 30th, 36th, 56th) and Altynbek Aitkaliyev added one. For Chinese Taipei, Yu-Cheng Chang opened the scoring (7th), while Tsung-Yu Hsieh scored a hat-trick (13th, 18th, 32nd).