Asia Cup Hockey: India trounce China 7-0 in Super 4s encounter, to face Korea in final

India's men's hockey team secured their spot in the Asia Cup final with a commanding 7-0 victory over China in their last Super 4s match at Rajgir, Bihar on Saturday. The win sets up a championship clash with defending champions South Korea on Sunday.Striker Abhishek led the scoring with two goals in the 46th and 50th minutes of the match. The Indian team's dominance was evident from the start, with Shilanand Lakra opening the scoring in the fourth minute.Dilpreet Singh, Mandeep Singh, Raj Kumar Pal, and Sukhjeet Singh also contributed goals in what proved to be a one-sided encounter. The impressive win helped India top the Super 4s league table with seven points.The Indian team controlled the game from the start, with most of the play concentrated in the Chinese half. The defence remained solid, preventing China from penetrating their circle and not conceding a single penalty corner.India's first goal came through Shilanand Lakra, who converted captain Harmanpreet Singh's precise aerial ball from the half line, relayed by Jarmanpreet Singh from the right flank.Dilpreet Singh doubled the lead shortly after, capitalising on a rebound from Harmanpreet's initial penalty corner flick, which Chinese goalkeeper Weihao Wang had saved.Mandeep Singh made it 3-0 in the 18th minute, scoring from a rebound after Vivek Sagar Prasad's shot was saved during India's second penalty corner.The second half saw India maintain their aggressive approach. Raj Kumar scored in the 37th minute, converting a high ball from Dilpreet, which was set up by Vivek Sagar Prasad and Shilanand.Sukhjeet Singh added the fifth goal in the 39th minute with a diving slap shot, assisted by Sumit and Dilpreet.Abhishek scored twice in the final quarter, first through a one-to-one play with Dilpreet and Sukhjeet, and then with a fierce reverse hit after receiving a deflection from Shilanand.In an earlier match, Korea secured their final spot with a dramatic 4-3 victory over Malaysia. Korea's goals came from Hyenhong Kim, Seyong Oh, and Jungjun Lee, while Malaysia scored through Fitri Saari, Aiman Rozemi, and Syed Cholan.Korea's comeback victory was particularly impressive as they trailed for most of the first three quarters. They turned the game around in the final quarter with two quick goals.China and Malaysia will compete for third place in a separate match on Sunday.In other tournament action, Kazakhstan defeated Chinese Taipei 6-4 to secure seventh place in the eight-team tournament. Agymtay Duisengazy scored five goals for Kazakhstan, while Altynbek Aitkaliyev added one more.Chinese Taipei's goals came from Yu-Cheng Chang and Tsung-Yu Hsieh, who scored a hat-trick. Despite being the lowest-ranked team at 88th in the world, Kazakhstan prevailed over the 41st-ranked Chinese Taipei.The tournament's final will see India face five-time champions Korea in the final, with both teams vying for a place in next year's World Cup, which will be jointly hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands.