India scored through Uttam Singh (13th minute), captain Harmanpreet Singh (19th, 45th minute) and Jarmanpreet Singh (32nd minute), while Korea’s only goal came from Yang Jihun’s penalty corner conversion (33rd minute).
On Tuesday, India will face hosts China in the final. Earlier in the day, China defeated Pakistan 2-0 in a penalty shootout in the first semi-final after the two teams played out a 1-1 draw at the end of the regular 60 minutes.
In the previous league match between the two finalists, India won 3-0.
Pakistan and Korea will meet in the third-place qualifier, also scheduled for Tuesday.
Meanwhile, in the qualifying match for fifth and sixth place, Japan defeated Malaysia 4-2 in a penalty shootout after a 4-4 draw in normal time.
In the second semi-final, as expected, the Indians started on the offensive and tested the Korean defence with persistent attacks from the beginning.
The Koreans, on the other hand, had to settle for staying back, defending and resorting to sporadic counterattacks.
Abhishek came very close to giving India the lead in the fourth minute but his backhand shot was brilliantly saved by Korean goalkeeper Kim Jaehan.
The Indian made promising plays and penetrated the Korean circle consistently in the first quarter.
India’s attacking intent finally paid off in the 13th minute when Uttam positioned himself in the right place at the right time to capitalise on Araijeet Singh Hundal’s feed from the right.
With one minute to go before the first break, Korea earned two consecutive penalty corners but failed to capitalise on their opportunities.
Four minutes into the second quarter, India earned their first penalty corner and Harmanpreet scored her sixth goal of the tournament to give her team a 2-0 lead.
On the stroke of half-time, goalkeeper Suraj Karkera came off his line to save a shot from the opposition player.
India continued in the same vein after the change of ends and extended their lead two minutes into the third quarter.
A brilliant pass from Sumit from the right finds Jarmanpreet just outside the circle on the left flank and the latter neatly collected the ball and took a step or two to enter the circle and slot the ball into the Korean goal to extend India’s lead.
But Korea pulled one back a minute later with a penalty corner thanks to the tournament’s top scorer, Yang Jihun.
The goal barely disturbed the Indians, who continued with their attacking game and dominated the exchanges.
With a second left in the third quarter, India earned another penalty corner when Korean goalkeeper Jaehan was yellow-carded for handling the ball outside the circle, and Harmanpreet made no mistake to extend the lead.
With eight minutes remaining, India’s second-choice goalkeeper Karkera made a superb double save to deny Park Cheoleon, but the Koreans were awarded a penalty corner which went in vain.
From then on, the Indians put on a controlled performance, defending their lead with total ease to advance to their fifth appearance in the tournament final.
Disclaimer:
The information contained in this post is for general information purposes only. We make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the post for any purpose.
We respect the intellectual property rights of content creators. If you are the owner of any material featured on our website and have concerns about its use, please contact us. We are committed to addressing any copyright issues promptly and will remove any material within 2 days of receiving a request from the rightful owner.