IPOH: Defending champions South Korea and two-time champions India will be relying on their penalty-corner drag flickers to win the ninth edition of the Asia Cup hockey tournament Sunday.
South Korea’s Jang Jong-hyun has scored seven in four matches while India’s V.R. Raghunath has converted six.
India also have another penalty corner flicker in Rupinder Pal Singh, who has scored five goals thus far.
South Korea reached the final after beating four-time World Cup champions Pakistan 2-1 while India defeated Malaysia 2-0 in the other semi-final.
For the record, India and South Korea have met 69 times since 1985. South Korea have won 30 times and India 27 times. They have drawn 12 times.
In the group match last Monday, India, who won the tournament in Kuala Lumpur in 2003 and Chennai in 2007, defeated South Korea 2-0.
This is their second meeting in the final of the Asia Cup. South Korea edged India 1-0 in the final in Hiroshima in 1993.
The Koreans have won the Asia Cup three times, including in KL (1999) and in Kuantan (2009).
India are the more desperate of the two teams to win the Asia Cup this time because only the winner of this tournament will gain an automatic berth to the World Cup in Holland next year.
If the Koreans, who have already confirmed their place in the World Cup after finishing fourth in the World League semi-finals in Johor Baru in July, win today, then Malaysia, who are the first reserves, are assured of a place in the World Cup.
So, obviously the Malaysian team and fans will be supporting and cheering for the Koreans today.
India coach Roelant Oltmans said that although they had defeated the Koreans in the group match, “the final will be a totally different game”.
“The Koreans will be out to exact revenge for the group loss. They are a dangerous team to play in the final as they will continue creating chances until the very last seconds of the match,” said the Dutch coach.
“It will be a very tight game as they are fast with their counter attacks. We cannot concede penalty corners because they have a good drag flicker in Jang (Jong-hyun).
“We played well against Malaysia in the semi-finals and I hope my boys will rise to the occasion again tomorrow (today).
South Korea coach Shin Seok-kyo has warned India that they are out for revenge.
“The win over Pakistan has inspired my players to go all out against India and win our fourth Asia Cup title,” said Seok-kyo.
“We need to be wary of India as they have two good drag flickers (Raghunath and Rupinder).
“We can expect an interesting and competitive final. We hope to take our chances well and lift the Asia Cup ... Malaysia has been a good hunting ground for us.”
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