Mohali (Punjab) [India], November 4 (ANI): The Indian males’s hockey crew will look to take one other step in the direction of defending their title on Wednesday once they face South Korea within the semi-final of the Asian Champions Trophy Punjab 2026. The event strikes from Jalandhar, which hosted the league stage, to Mohali’s Olympian Balbir Singh Senior International Hockey Stadium.Â
India enter the knockout stage unbeaten, having gained all 5 of their league-stage matches, together with a dominating 8-0 victory over South Korea within the final league sport in Jalandhar on Monday, as per a press launch from Hockey India.Â
India completed the league stage on the prime of the standings with 15 factors, scoring 34 targets and conceding simply 5. The crew will now look to hold that type into the semi-final as they chase a sixth Asian Champions Trophy title. India are probably the most profitable facet within the event’s historical past, having gained the trophy in 2011, 2016, 2018 (joint winners with Pakistan), 2023 and 2024.
The two groups will meet for the second time in three days, however the semi-final presents a distinct problem for each side. India not solely dominated their league-stage encounter on this event, but additionally hammered Korea 8-2 on the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026 in September on their technique to profitable the gold medal, recording their largest victory over the facet within the Games’ historical past.
The Indian crew will look to keep up the identical construction and attacking intent that helped them end the league stage with 5 wins, however they are going to must be aware of Korea’s response after the heavy defeat.
India’s Chief Coach Craig Fulton has warned the crew towards complacency, including that the semi-final shall be a contemporary contest. ‘The strain shall be totally different. We want an excellent begin, that is going to be the important thing,’ he stated after Monday’s win over the Korean facet.
The spectacular league-stage efficiency from India noticed their attacking power unfold throughout the ahead line, with Sukhjeet Singh and Dilpreet Singh amongst these in good type. Both have scored 4 targets within the event, whereas Abhishek has three, although he missed the final match on account of an harm. Captain Harmanpreet Singh stays the event’s main scorer with 9 targets. Among the opposite drag-flickers within the Indian crew, Jugraj Singh has scored three targets.
Korea, in the meantime, might want to discover a technique to include India’s attacking play and keep away from conceding penalty corners. But the Indian forwards have proven that the in-form hosts may also rating from open play, giving the defending champions multiple path to purpose.Â
The different semi-final will see Japan tackle Malaysia. Japan completed second within the league standings with 10 factors, whereas Malaysia had been third with 9. Japan’s 2-1 win over Malaysia on the ultimate day helped them safe the upper place. Malaysia’s attacking risk shall be led by Abu Kamal Azrai, who has scored 5 targets, and Anuar Akhimullah, who has 4.
The fifth-sixth place classification match shall be performed between China and Bangladesh. While China enter the competition because the favourites, a constructive end result for Bangladesh could be a significant enhance for hockey within the nation.
The India-South Korea semi-final will start at 1900 hrs IST on Wednesday. Earlier within the day, China will face Bangladesh at 1400 hrs for the fifth-sixth place, adopted by the primary semi-final between Japan and Malaysia at 1630 hrs. (ANI)