Defending champions and Olympic bronze medalist India suffered a 2-2 draw against Korea in their opening match of the Hero Asian Champions Trophy men’s hockey tournament here on Tuesday. Playing their first tournament since the historic Tokyo Olympic campaign, India got off to a great start and scored through Lalit Upadhyay in the fourth minute before vice-captain Harmanpreet Singh scored a penalty corner in the 18th minute to double their lead. changed for After a 0–2 draw, Korea bounced back after a change of ends and reclaimed the favorite and draw level in the 41st minute with goals through Jonghyun Jung and Sunghyun Kim in the 46th minute.
As the match progressed, Korea’s confidence grew and the pressure on the Indian defense mounted.
The Manpreet Singh-led side had several chances, including a penalty corner, but could not take advantage of the opportunity as the match ended in a stalemate.
Jehyeon Kim was the difference between the two sides in front of the Korea goal as he made several brilliant saves to help his side steal a point from the game.
The last match between the two sides ended in a 1-1 draw in the last edition of the tournament.
India will next face host Bangladesh on Wednesday.
It didn’t take long for India to advance through Lalit, who controlled the ball just outside the circle and dodged three Korean defenders to put them in the net past Kim.
While the Indians played their natural game of attacking hockey from the start, the Koreans preferred to sit back and defend deep and relied mostly on counter-attacks.
India continued their dominance in the second quarter and secured one penalty corner after another.
While Varun Kumar’s first attempt was brilliantly saved by Korean goalkeeper Kim, Harmanpreet beautifully converted the next attempt in the 18th minute to double India’s lead.
After trailing by two goals, the Koreans tried to bounce back in the remaining minutes of the second quarter, but India held on to the defense.
But the picture was completely different after the cross-over as Korea looked more purposeful in their attacks and scored three consecutive penalty corners in the 41st minute and Jung was on target in the last try.
Minutes later, Gursahibjit Singh’s shot from the top of the circle was off target.
The Koreans continued to put pressure on the Indian defense in search of an equalizer and were successful in their efforts when Sunghyun Kim tapped into a drive from the left flank into a near post.
Surprised India had opportunities in the form of three more penalty corners but failed to capitalize on the points-sharing opportunities with Korea.
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