Hockey Asia Cup 2017, India vs South Korea — As it happened...

India had beaten Japan, Bangladesh and Pakistan to top Pool A and qualified for the Super-4s stage unbeaten. Korea, meanwhile, finished second in Pool B.

Courtesy: IANS

India dominated the possession game, but failed to breach a disciplined Korean defence.

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The Super 4s standings now after the India-South Korea match: Malaysia, thanks to their 3-2 win over Pakistan earlier today, are top of the table, followed by India and South Korea. (MATCH REPORT)

India dominated the possession game, but failed to breach a disciplined Korean defence. But India managed to salvage a draw thanks to a Gurjant Singh goal in the final minute. Tomorrow, India play Malaysia in the second match, after the South Korea-Pakistan fixture.

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FULL-TIME

Fourth quarter (IND 1 - 1 KOR)

60th min. India launch one final attack with a long, cross-field scoop. That's all fro today. Final hooter.

59th min. Finally a short corner for India. But the Koreans are challenging the call, saying that before the ball goes out, there was a stick check from one of the Indians. And it was. Free hit to Korea. Then, with seconds left, Gurjant Singh, the poacher, scores from a rebound. GOAL!! It was chaos in the Korean goal-mouth. Rebound, then another rebound, then Gurjant was there to slot the ball home.

58th min. Here come no advice. No PC and also, India do not lose the review. No conclusive evidence to go either way, so stick with on-field umpire's call, which was a free-hit to the Koreans.

57th min. Less than four minutes left in the match, then there's one Korean player struggling to keep himself up. On the ground. He's been stretchered off. Meanwhile, India are without a proper goalie. All 11 players are now outfield players, including one in yellow shirt. Then, from a probing move, India challenge for PC, claiming the ball came off a Korean player's foot.

55th min. Sardar Singh sends in a bullet cross, finds Surjit on the reverse, but the ball gets deflected only to miss the right upright by a whisker.

54th min. Gurjant Singh is the only Indian attacker engaging with the Korean defender. Meaning, India are on a defensive mode, despite trailing by a lone goal. Then, out of nowhere, Surender and Sunil combined well to launch an Indian attack. But one of the alert Korean defender scoop cleared the ball.

51st min. One rampaging run for India, but as usual, this time too, nothing comes off it. On the counter, Koreans got inside the Indian D.

49th min. Chinglensana switches position with Sardar, giving the more experienced campaigner more free hand as India look to tactical change against this resolute Korean defence.

47th min. India resume the proceedings with the start from the centre. SV Sunil wastes a good chance by going solo in the far corner. He gets blocked. And ball to Korea.

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Third quarter (IND 0 - 1 KOR)

45th min. Harmanpreet Singh's brilliant play in defence helps India thwart a Korean attack. From the following play, India get a counter-attack with SV Sunil failing to finish the move. He's well positioned to kill off, but failed to keep control of the ball. Then HOOTER.

42nd min. Valiant run from Ramandeep Singh inside the Korean box, but it proved a futile attempt. Koreans are playing a smart, waiting game. Indians are made to hard work and run more.

40th min. Akashdeep Singh fails to control the ball in front of the goal-mouth. Wasted chance. On the counter, Korean score. GOAL! What a finish from Lee Jungjun A reverse scoop to beat the India goalie from close range.

39th min.: Ramandeep Singh 'headbutt' one of the Korean players, though unintentionally, and play stops for a while. Concerned Koreans stopped the play. A brief attendance from team physio, and the Korean player is playing again.

37th min.: Ramandeep Singh fails to control his release and wastes a good move. Moments ago, India just fended off a promising looking Korean attack. An attacking Sardar Singh tries to find Lalit near the far corner, but to no avail.

35th min. Harmanpreet Singh does well to block a sweeping Korea attack on the right flank. India, then, launch their own attack with Lalit feeding Ramandeep up front. Free hit to India inside the Korean half. Sardar then pulls back, releasing the ball for a waiting Chinglensana in the midfield.

32nd min. Lalit starts the third quarter proceedings from the centre. India, then, increase the tempo.

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5:55 pm. India enjoyed greater ball possession, but the Koreans made up that deficit with respectable circle penetration. India had three shots from 10 penetrations, to Korea's 1 from six. The winner of this tournament qualify for the 2018 World Cup in India.

HALF-TIME

Second quarter (IND 0 - 0 KOR)

30th min.  Quick release from Chinlensana. Ramandeep Singh gets a free run, but he fails again. Korea get the final attack of the half, but they took waste thanks to a rising ball.

28th min. SV Sunil and Akashdeep link-up well, but failed to make the most out of their move.

25th min. Gurjant Singh, one lucky player today. He uses his stick to block, infringement. But the umpires call in favour of the Indian. One Korean strike hit the board, but no goal. It comes 'clean' from outside the scoring zone. From the following play, Korea win the ball back pretty soon.  A Korean player gets himself injured after a collision with Sardar Singh in the centre. Free hit to the Koreans.

23rd min. One good, free-flowing attack from India. Patient. Then a cross from Lalit earns India a free hit inside the Korean half. Koreans, having defended the attack, get themselves a free hit thanks to a Sardar Singh body block. A rather long whistle from one of the umpires.

21th min. Gurjant Singh, little ambitious to go solo in the near corner, probably hoping a cut inside the Korean box. Failed. From the counter, Korea manage to test Indian defenders, only to see India mount another counter. Then, Chinglensana produces a reverse shot, just missing the near post.

18th min.: Good attack from India with Chinglensana and Manpreet Singh breaching the Korean defence with some help from Sardar Singh.

17th min.: India take the early initiative, attacking from both the flanks. But Korean defenders, calm and collected, weathered the Indian attacks.

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 First quarter (IND 0 - 0 KOR)

15th min.: First PC of the match, to India. A Korean player carried inside the D. But a wasted chance. First quarter done and dusted with the Koreans getting the last attack, thanks to a long scoop.

14th min.: This is one indifferent play from the Indias. They were brilliant against Pakistan in the last Pool A game, but today, there's no spark, yet. Just wasted a good chance with Akashdeep taking an eternity to place himself on a shooting position. What he needed was to beat the Korean goalie.

12th min.: Korean no 17 gets a free goal, with no Indian defenders marking his free run, but he fails to hit the target. The defending champs continue to press hard. Indians are fortunate to get the referee's call in their favour after a long hit went out of the play, ostensibly after a deflection.

9th min.: Koreans are seemingly playing a waiting game, but then they get the first real attack of the goal. Akash Chikte does well to block the ball, which was climbing. Could easily have been a PC to the Koreans.

7th min. :Again, India probing the Korean defence. Chinglensana gets a good move to press forward, but the midfielder opts to pull back. From the following play, India get inside the Korean box with Gurjan Singh failing the control the ball from an incisive cross.

5th min.Testing moment for Dipsen Tirkey. The youngster did well to defend the play in the far corner.

4th min.: India enjoying a good spell of possession. Surender and Manpreet involve themselves in a cross-field link-up play, then the latter goes for a direct through ball. But Korean defensive line alert.

2nd min.:  Koreans get their first move, from the left flank. India responded with a sweeping move from the back. Still early moments in the match though, to have any say.

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5:05 pm. India are the only Asian team inside the top 10 in world rankings. But the Koreans have been one of the most tenacious outfits there. Players are already out.

4:55 pm. We have India's starting XI: Harmanpreet Singh, Surender Kumar, Dipsen Tirkey, Lalit Upadhayay, SK Uthappa, Varun Kumar, SV Sunil, Akash Chikte, Akashdeep Singh, Manpreet Singh, Chinglensana Kangujam

And here's the full squad:

Goalkeepers: Akash Chikte, Suraj Karkera;
Defenders: Dipsan Tirkey, Kothajit Khadangbam, Surender Kumar, Harmanpreet Singh, Varun Kumar;
Midfielders: SK Uthappa, Sardar Singh, Manpreet Singh (captain), Chinglensana Kangujam, Sumit;
Forwards: S.V. Sunil (vice-captain), Akashdeep Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar, Gurjant Singh, Satbir Singh

4:33 pm. Moments ago, Malaysia completed a convincing 3-2 win over three-time champions Pakistan in the first Super 4s match.

4:31 pm. Here's what the India coach Sjoerd Marijne said about today's fixture:

pic.twitter.com/3RjuVSE2vl — Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) October 17, 2017

4:28 pm. In the first match of Super-4s earlier today, Malaysia continued to impress by edging out Pakistan 3-2.

4:25 pm.  India proved to be the team to beat in pool stage with back-to-back convincing wins over Japan (5-1), Bangladesh (7-0) and Pakistan (3-1). It helped them finish top of Pool A without losing any match. South Korea, meanwhile, finished second in Pool B behind Malaysia. In the Super-4s stage, each team plays the other once and the top two teams in the end play the title match on October 22.