Hockey Asia Cup 2025: Misfiring India manages to draw with Korea
Hockey Asia Cup 2025: Misfiring India manages to draw with Korea
If missed chances could write a story, they would write a glorious one for the Indian men’s hockey team. On Wednesday as well, the players would have been left ruing the multitude of opportunities they wasted in a hard-fought 2-2 draw with defending champion Korea in its first Super 4s game of the Asia Cup at the Rajgir Sports Complex here on Wednesday.
After a one-hour delay induced by a short but heavy spell of rain — accompanied by thunder and lightning — that led to puddles and forced the players off the turf, the game was clearly more about who adjusted better to the difficult conditions. And India proved more than able, attacking from the beginning and creating chances early on including a penalty corner in the second minute itself.
But Manpreet Singh, usually foolproof in the set-pieces, had a poor stop and then tried to take a shot himself, hitting wide.
If omens were a thing, it was sign of things to come for the Indians. A couple of penalty corners five minutes later were similarly wasted before Sukhjeet Singh snatched the ball at half line and put Hardik Singh through, who charged from middle of the turf to enter the circle and slam home for the lead.
The match turned in the 12th minute when Korea sought a penalty corner but the TV umpire awarded a penalty stroke instead for Jugraj Singh’s deliberate push on Seyong Oh before receiving inside the circle. Jihun Yang duly converted to level and, two minutes later, Hyeonhong Kim smashed home from a penalty corner to go ahead.
The next 45 minutes was a script that is getting eerily familiar here — missed chances, poor finishing, a second too late in passing inside the circle, a little too casual in the attack and a bit hasty in taking the shot, refusing to take the extra second to compose and get into the right position.
At least 12 times through the game unmarked Indian forwards had a clear sight at goal but were off target. The tireless midfield of Hardik, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Rajinder Singh, and Manpreet kept feeding while Abhishek, Sukhjeet and Dilpreet Singh missed repeatedly. India also earned six penalty corners, not converting any. Credit should also go to Korean goalkeeper Jaehan Kim, deservedly named Man of the Match, for pulling off some impressive saves to deny India.
The second half was almost entirely played in the Korean half, partly forced by the relentless Indian attack and partly by the Koreans’ patience to sit back and defend their slim lead. But something had to give and it finally did.
Mandeep Singh was placed perfectly to tap in Sukhjeet’s put-through in the 53rd minute to finally equalise, much to the relief of both the management and the crowd. But with Malaysia up next on Thursday, the team has less than 24 hours to get its body, and more importantly, its mind sorted.
Published on Sep 03, 2025
