The Indian men's hockey team will hope to begin the Super 4 stage of the Asia Cup with a win over South Korea on Wednesday in Rajgir, Bihar.
India topped their Pool with three wins out of three, beating China 4-3, Japan 3-2 and Kazakhstan 15-0.
In Super 4, after their match against South Korea, India will be up against Malaysia and China. Only the two teams from Super 4 will make it to the final.
Speaking about the upcoming tie, India's head coach Craig Fulton said, "It is nice to get through the pool phase without any injuries. Especially in a game like the one against Kazakhstan but two good games in the afternoon, in warm conditions, changes when we come back to play at night. The energy is really high in the team. Back-to-back wins, I think was refreshing for everyone.
"Now we are on to the next challenge in the tournament. We will have a fresh approach for this phase. We play Korea first. We scored some really good goals against Kazakhstan, leading the game from the front, that was most important," Fulton said.
He also added, "We had enough training in the areas we wanted to improve; this game (against Kazakhstan) came at the right time because it gave us a lot more focus on the final third. Players are feeling a bit more confident and have a bit more feel of working together. That was lacking, I think, in the other two games."
India captain Harmanpreet Singh said, "All of them are tough opponents in this tournament. Although we have not played Malaysia and Korea a lot in the past one year, we did get a good game against Malaysia in practice match ahead of the tournament. We obviously played against China and know what they can bring to the table. We are fast learners, which is good. So, when we play a team twice, it is good for us."
India vs South Korea will start at 7:30 PM on Wednesday.
You can follow all the action from the game right here:
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