New Delhi: India men's hockey team failed to make it to the Asia Cup finals after their last round-robin league match of the Super 4s against South Korea ended in a 4-4 draw on Tuesday. After missing out on qualifying for the finals, India will now play for the third-place i.e the bronze medal match against Japan, while South Korea has reached the final due to a better goal difference where they will face Malaysia in the summit clash. To reach the finals, India had to secure a win over Korea but unfortunately, a second-string side with some big names missing suffered heartbreak in what turned out to be a thriller. India came back from being two down to take the lead in the final quarter but in the end, they couldn't capitalize on their momentum to take a lead for an outright win as scores were leveled when the final quarter ended.
India took lead in the eight minute of 1st Quarter after Neelam Sanjeev scored a goal taking advantage of a penalty corner. Maninder Singh then scored the equalizer for India in the 20th minute. After this, Seshe Gowda gave India the lead in the next minute, but in the 27th minute, a brilliant comeback goal from Kim Jong Hu brought score back to level.
India once again took the advantage in the third quarter, with Mariswaran Sakthivel scoring the fourth goal for India. However, after a brilliant pass, Korea's Jang Manje leveled the scores once again in the third quarter. India tried their best to score in the last 30 seconds, but despite a decent effort, the Korean goalkeeper pushed it away. The match between India and Korea ended in a 4-4 draw.