Hockey: Korea edge past Oman, settle for fifth place

MUSCAT: In the first classification match of the day for the fifth and sixth place Korea beat hosts Oman 3-1 in the Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament played at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Muscat.
Korea opened their account against the home team Oman in the 14th minute of the game when Taeil Hwang dribbled past a few Omani defenders to score through a field goal. Oman immediately bounced back to restore parity in the 15th minute through a penalty corner awarded to Oman stepping up to receive the ball was Ahmed Al Nofali who made no mistake in putting the ball at the back of the net to close out the first quarter with both team at 1-1.
The second quarter saw Oman putting pressure on the Koreans through some incisive passes but the Koreans managed to keep the home team at bay till the end of the first half.
Resuming the third quarter the Koreans looking to go ahead and establish a lead opened the game up by using their flanks and resorting to some aggressive play received two green cards with Junwoo Jeong being sent off in the 41st minute down to 10 men Korea were on the receiving end once again when they received a second green card from the umpire sending off Seungil Lee due to a hard tackle.
Oman then managed to keep the Koreans at arm’s length by holding on to the ball to finish the third quarter with the score still at 1-1.
Oman satisfied to hold the opposition to a draw began the fourth quarter on a lively note but the Koreans came back on the counter attack to take a 2-1 lead in the 53rd minute through Sukhoon Cho who received a through pass to latch on to the ball and score from a field goal. Looking to take the game away from Oman the Koreans went for an all out attack to score two minutes later in the 55th minute when the ball bounced of an Omani defender handing Korea penalty corner which Jhun Yang put at the back of the new giving Korea a 3-1 lead. Oman tried hard to score but in the process received a green card sending off Oman’s Younis Al Nofali in the 55th minute ending the match in Korea’s favour.
In the first semifianl match of the evening Pakistan took on the silver medeallists Malaysia who they beat in the preliminary round 1-0 and in the second semifinal match India take on the Asian Games gold medallist Japan with India beating Japan 9-0 in the round robin league.