India registered an 8-1 win against Korea in its last Pool A match of the Men’s Junior Asia Cup in Muscat on Sunday.
Araijeet Singh Hundal (3’, 37’), Arshdeep Singh (9’, 44’, 60’), Gurjot Singh (11’), Rosan Kujur (27’) and Rohit (30’) found the back of the net in the game for India.
Taehyeon Kim (18’) scored the only goal for Korea. With this victory, India will advance to the semifinal, to be held on Tuesday against Malaysia.
India collected 12 points from four wins. Japan also qualified for the semifinals from Pool A as the second-placed team with nine points, courtesy three wins and one loss (against India).
Pakistan, which beat Malaysia 4-1 on Sunday, topped Pool B with 12 points after winning all its four matches and it faces Japan in the other semifinal, also on Tuesday.
India needed just three minutes into the match to take the lead with Hundal scoring from a penalty corner.
Arshdeep and Gurjot scored a field goal each in quick succession to give India a 3-0 lead in the first quarter.
Korea made a brief fightback in the second quarter and Kim Taehyeon reduced the margin with a field goal in the 18th minute.
But Kujur restored the three-goal lead for India in the 27th minute before Rohit struck at the stroke of half-time from the penalty corner to go to the breather 5-1 ahead.
Hundal struck again via a field goal seven minutes after resumption for his second goal of the match. One minute before the end of the third quarter, Arshdeep also scored his second goal to make it 7-1 for India.
Arshdeep then scored a fine field goal to complete his hat-trick a few seconds before the final hooter.
India got five penalty corners in the match and converted two of them, while Korea could not score from the lone PC it earned.
This tournament doubles up as a qualifier for next year’s FIH Hockey Junior World Cup, which will be hosted by India.
The top six teams will qualify, but as host, India has already secured its spot. Having finished already among the top six, the seventh-placed team will also earn a berth.
India has been the most successful team in Junior Asia Cup history, with four titles (2004, 2008, 2015, 2023).
