South Korea clinch title beating Japan 4-2 in tiebreaker

South Korea emerged as the new king of the Men’s Asian Champions Trophy beating Japan by 4-2 goals in a tiebreaker at Maulana Bhashani National Stadium here on Wednesday, reports UNB.

They clinched the title of the 6th edition of the five-nation Hero Men’s Asian Champions Trophy Hockey’ 2021 beating Japan in penalty shootout as the final match between two teams was locked in 3-3 goals in the stipulated period.

The two finalists also played 3-3 draw in the round robin league stage of the meet.

South Korean veteran defender Jang Jong Hyun, who made a hat-trick against India in the semifinal scoring four goals, emerged as the highest scorer of the championship, bagging 10 goals while Indian defender Harmanpreet Singh followed him with eight goals.

Earlier in the 3rd place deciding play-off match, India finished 3rd beating their traditional sub-continental rivals Pakistan by 4-3 goals Wednesday afternoon.

After the day’s seven goals thriller, India clinched the bronze medal of the Asian Champions Trophy Hockey’21 after lifting the bronze medal in this year’s Tokyo Olympics.

India also defeated Pakistan by 3-1 goals in the round robin league stage of the ongoing meet to finish top of the points table, securing nine points in four matches with three wins and a draw against Korea.

Two joint champions of the last meet in 2018 and the South Asian giants of the Asian Hockey India and Pakistan miserably eliminated from the continental hockey in the semi-finals last Tuesday.

Japan emerged as surprise finalists stunning hot favourite India by 5-3 goals while Korea entered the final frustrating Pakistan by 6-5 goals in keenly contested semis.

In the day’s play-off, Harmanpreet Singh, Sumit, Varun Kumar and Akashdeep Singh scored one each for India while Arfraz Khan, Abdul Rana and Nadeem contributed one each for Pakistan.

Indian captain Manpreet Singh was adjudged the player of the match displaying his brilliance in the midfield of the match.