Kuantan (Malaysia): India have booked a final date with Pakistan in the Asian Champions Trophy Hockey Tournament as they beat South Korea 5-4 in the penalty shootout, here on Saturday.

This is India's third entry into the final of the Asian Champions Trophy, whose inaugural edition it won in 2011 and were runners up to Pakistan in 2012.

Playing a tense semi-final, India dominated the first quarter, taking a 1-0 lead through Talwinder Singh in the 15th minute. However, the second quarter belonged to the South Koreans with the Koreans penetrating through India’s defence a number of times. Seo Inwoo equalised 1-1 in the 21st minute, bringing South Korea back into the game. The Indian mellowed down in their attacks and the Koreans had longer periods of ball possession.

The Koreans then took the lead from a penalty stroke conversion by Yang Ji-Hun in the 53rd. The match went to shootout after Ramandeep Singh scored made it 2-2 for India in the 55th minute.

In the shootout, Sardar Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh and Akashdeep Singh duly scored the first four attempts before Birendra Lakra was obstructed and the resultant penalty stroke was converted by Rupinder to give India all five successful strikes in the shootout.

For South Korea, captain Jung Man-Jae, Kim Hyeong-Jin and Lee Jung-Jun faced no problem in converting their attempts.

The fourth shot by Bae Jong-Suk was blocked by Sreejesh, but a penalty stroke was awarded for a stick-check by the Indian goalkeeper after Korea asked for a video referral and the resultant stroke was converted by Yang Ji-Hun. It all came down to the last Korean shot and Sreejesh rose to the occasion to deny Lee Dae-Yeol to seal the affair.