India Dominate The Defending Champions; End 8 Years Drought for Asian Supremacy

South Korea were the only team India were not able to beat in what was an otherwise dominant performance by the hosts in Rajgir, Bihar. India head coach Craig Fulton, when asked by PixelSports about whether the earlier draw against South Korea will play a factor or not, he said, "No I just think we will look to play the game and not the occasion. It's all about us. We've got to deliver our performance and (we are) looking forward to it."

India started the game with a lightning fast attack from the wing and Sukhjeet Singh getting a goal from it. India's match strategy was pretty clear. They were not trying to do fancy stuff but they were doing the basics quite brilliantly like playing pinpoint long balls, receiving, trapping, shooting and occasionally dribbling. India were using the flanks to their advantage and they were exploiting the space available to them. With only minutes to go in the first quarter, India received a penalty stroke which Jugraj Singh stepped forward to take, and it forced South Korean sensation Kim Jaehan to make a brilliant save to keep out Jugraj and India. In the second quarter, India again found the back of the net, this time it was Dilpreet Singh who finished a wonder display of passes, it was almost like watching a movie, India were as smooth as silk when Harmanpreet Singh delivered a long ball and it was received by Sanjay, and Sanjay calmly set it up for Dilpreet, who with his head down, buried the ball home. India were flying. South Korea did not know what hit them. In the third quarter, India began strong, with a couple of penalty corner decisions getting overturned but India continued to penetrate the circle of South Korea. South Korea in the third quarter finally managed to penetrate inside India's circle for the first time in what was a pretty average attempt to shoot with an army of Indian warriors standing in front of the goal. South Korea continued to put pressure on the Indian defence. For the first time in the match, South Korea were looking dangerous when they got consecutive penalty corners. India started a counter attack of their own and got a penalty corner from it. Moments later, Harmanpreet Singh took a shot, which was turned in cheekily by Dilpreet Singh, to score his second goal of the match. As the fourth quarter started, India who had momentum on their side, continued to attack, and they got a penalty corner in return. Amit Rohidas, a veteran of many battles, an unlikely source of goals, hammered a shot in and with this goal, the game was in all likelihood, over. South Korea got one back when Dain Son, their highest goalscorer of the tournament, managed to finish a beautifully executed penalty corner routine. But it was too little, too late, as India, were happy to spend the last few minutes passing the ball between themselves. Minutes later, India were crowned the champions of Asia! They had punched their ticket to the World Cup in Belgium and the Netherlands. They end their 8 year drought of winning an Asia Cup, which they last won in 2017. South Korea played a very different brand of hockey, a brand many don't expect from them. A brand where they scratch and claw their way to a goal and push through the ranks. But it was not enough as India's raw talent pool was too much for the South Koreans.