Asian Hockey Champions Trophy: India clash against South Korea in semis

Top-ranked India will clash against South Korea in the second semifinals of the fourth Asian Champions Trophy to be played on Saturday evening in Malaysia. The first semi-final shall be played between hosts Malaysia and Pakistan.

India's march to the semifinals

The Indian got their tournament off to a brilliant start by thumping minnows Japan 10-2. The team was held to a one all draw against a formidable Korean side before they beat arch rivals Pakistan 3-2 by posting a spirited comeback.The side once again showed their attacking prowess by crushing China 9-0 and rounded off their league campaign by beating hosts Malaysia 2-1. The Indian strikers have been in rich goal scoring form and found the net regularly against most of their opponents. Ace drag flicker Rupinder Pal Singh has struck a purple patch in the tournament by leading the Indian attack with 10 goals.

The Indians finished off their league encounters in superlative fashion by securing impressive wins in four of their five games. The Indians topped the league table with 13 points and comfortably booked their semi-final spot. However the rest of the semifinal spots weren't decided till Thursday as the there were a couple of unexpected results which made the overall group standings The Koreans conceded a late equalizer to Malaysia and finished fourth in the round-robin league standings. Meanwhile Pakistan defeated China 4-0 to take their points tally to nine, the same as Malaysia before the last outing against the Koreans, who had seven points ahead of the last match.