Kakamigahara, September 24: India beat South Korea 8-2 in men’s hockey at the Asian Games 2026 on Thursday, their best result against the Koreans in Asian Games history.
It was a third win in a row in Pool A for the defending champions, who moved a step closer to the semi-finals. They had opened with wins over Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
Dilpreet Singh and Abhishek scored twice each. Dilpreet now has nine goals, the most by any player in the men’s competition. Captain Harmanpreet Singh, Rajinder Singh, Sukhjeet Singh and Shilanand Lakra got one each.
Four goals in the first quarter
Lakra opened the scoring in the fourth minute after an aerial ball into the Korean circle was collected and set up for him. Korean goalkeeper Jaehan Kim then made saves in the eighth and ninth minutes.
Sukhjeet made it 2-0 in the 10th minute after another circle entry, and a minute later Harmanpreet flicked in a penalty corner for 3-0.
In the 15th minute, Manpreet found Lakra with an aerial and Lakra picked out Abhishek, who slap-pushed in for 4-0 at the first break.
Dilpreet strikes twice
India’s fifth came in the 26th minute. Abhishek fed Mandeep in the circle and Dilpreet got the final touch on Mandeep’s reverse push to make it 5-0 at half-time.
Dilpreet scored again in the 32nd minute, hitting the backboard with a reverse hit from Hardik’s pass. Amit Rohidas kept out South Korea’s first penalty corner, and Abhishek made it 7-0 in the 38th minute after Raj Kumar hit the crossbar.
Korea reply twice
JaeHo Kim pulled one back in the 42nd minute to make it 7-1 at the end of the third quarter. Goalkeeper Mohith kept Korea out for much of the last quarter, but Yong Bok Kim scored a field goal in the 52nd minute after a loose challenge by Jarmanpreet Singh.
India won a string of penalty corners late on, and Rajinder flicked the eighth into the backboard with 38 seconds left.
200 caps for Vivek Sagar Prasad
Midfielder Vivek Sagar Prasad played his 200th senior international for India and was honoured before the match.
India play hosts Japan on September 26.
