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Dhaka, October 17
India will look to continue their winning run as they face defending champions South Korea in their first match of the Super 4 round in the Asia Cup hockey championship here on Wednesday.
After three successive wins in the pool stage, Sjoerd Marijne’s wards are prepared to begin their four-team round-robin stage. Malaysia and Pakistan are the other teams in the second round.
South Korea are fighting a battle of their own — they will be under added pressure as they are the only ones in the Super 4s who have not qualified for next year’s World Cup in Bhubaneswar.
India have registered convincing wins against Japan (5-1), Bangladesh (7-0) and Pakistan (3-1). Indian forwards SV Sunil, Akashdeep Singh and Ramandeep Singh are in good form and the midfielders, led by Manpreet Singh, are linking up with the defence and attack-line smoothly.
Marijne has put centre-half Sardar Singh in the backline to make up for the lack of experience among the defenders and the former captain has been performing his role as a free-moving player nicely.
“We got off to a good start in the tournament. Though I would have liked to see a better performance against Pakistan, it’s good to have won all the three matches,” Marijne said on the sidelines of the team’s training session on Tuesday.
“In the Super 4s too we will have a similar approach, which is to take one match at a time; and right now the focus is on the match against Korea,” stated the Dutchman.
South Korea suffered one loss against Malaysia but won against China and Oman to make the Super 4 stage. Korea have a good penalty corner conversion rate and are a high-quality counter-attacking side, and India will need to be patient against them, cautioned Marijne.
“It will be an interesting match. We need to be patient and have good control. It’s important for us to focus on our own structure. They are good on the counter and we need to be aware of that when we play against them,” he added.
The last time India played South Korea was in Kuantan, Malaysia, during the Asian Champions Trophy in October 2016. India had won the semifinal in a penalty shootout after a 2-2 draw in regulation time. India had gone on to beat Pakistan in the final. — IANS
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