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China put on a superb show of defence as they held the defending champions South Korea to a 1-1 draw in the round-robin match of the ongoing Asian Champions Trophy Hockey tournament on Sunday.
Jonghyun Jang gave Korea an early advantage, but Chongcong Chen scored the equaliser for China at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium in Chennai. In the first quarter of the match, no team was able to enjoy any clear shots at the net. China was however dominant in ball possession, having as much as 55 per cent ball possession during the first ten minutes. The first quarter ended without a goal being scored. In the starting minutes of the second quarter, Korea got the first penalty corner of the match. Jang converted the penalty in the 18th minute, giving an advantage to South Korea. The second quarter ended with South Korea leading. China had two opportunities to score, but they could not make the most of it. The third quarter of the match started. In the 43rd minute, with a goal from Chongcong, China was able to equalise. The third quarter ended with both sides level. The final quarter started and both teams failed to make the best of these final 15 minutes to score.Korea tried desperately for a winning goal in the final few minutes but failed. Korea has played two draws in a row after winning their opener, it sits at second with five points in three matches. China is yet to win a match and has lost two and drawn one. They have just one points and sit at the bottom. In the next match, Pakistan and Japan played out a thrilling 3-3 draw. In this match, Pakistan took an early advantage in the first quarter during the ninth minute itself, with the help of a strike from Abdul Rana. However, the 2022 finalists Japan were not the ones to be ruled out so quickly as just four minutes later, Seren Tanaka responded with a thundering equaliser. The first quarter ended with both sides level at 1-1. The second quarter got underway. Midway through the quarter, Muhammad Khan managed to give back Pakistan their lead through a penalty corner in the 25th minute. The second quarter ended with Pakistan leading 2-1. The third quarter started and Japan levelled the scores yet again with the help of a 37th-minute goal from Ryosei Kato. In the final seconds of the quarter, Ohashi Masaki converted a penalty corner to give Japan a 3-2 lead. In the final quarter, Muhammad Khan converted yet another penalty corner in the 55th minute to level the scores 3-3. The match ended in a draw. Both teams have drawn two matches and lost one and have two points each. While Japan is at the fourth spot, Pakistan is in the fifth spot. (ANI)
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