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The Indian men's hockey team will look to take another step towards defending their title on Wednesday when they face South Korea in the semi-final of the Asian Champions Trophy Punjab 2026. The tournament moves from Jalandhar, which hosted the league stage, to Mohalis Olympian Balbir Singh Senior International Hockey Stadium.
India enter the knockout stage unbeaten, having won all five of their league-stage matches, including a dominating 8-0 victory over South Korea in the last league game in Jalandhar on Monday, as per a press release from Hockey India. India finished the league stage at the top of the standings with 15 points, scoring 34 goals and conceding just five. The team will now look to carry that form into the semi-final as they chase a sixth Asian Champions Trophy title. India are the most successful side in the tournament's history, having won the trophy in 2011, 2016, 2018 (joint winners with Pakistan), 2023 and 2024. The two teams will meet for the second time in three days, but the semi-final presents a different challenge for both sides. India not only dominated their league-stage encounter in this tournament, but also hammered Korea 8-2 at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026 in September on their way to winning the gold medal, recording their biggest victory over the side in the Games' history. The Indian team will look to maintain the same structure and attacking intent that helped them finish the league stage with five wins, but they will need to be mindful of Korea's response after the heavy defeat. India's Chief Coach Craig Fulton has warned the team against complacency, adding that the semi-final will be a fresh contest. "The pressure will be different. We need a good start, thats going to be the key," he said after Monday's win over the Korean side. The impressive league-stage performance from India saw their attacking strength spread across the forward line, with Sukhjeet Singh and Dilpreet Singh among those in good form. Both have scored four goals in the tournament, while Abhishek has three, though he missed the last match due to an injury. Captain Harmanpreet Singh remains the tournaments leading scorer with nine goals. Among the other drag-flickers in the Indian team, Jugraj Singh has scored three goals. Korea, meanwhile, will need to find a way to contain India's attacking play and avoid conceding penalty corners. But the Indian forwards have shown that the in-form hosts can also score from open play, giving the defending champions more than one route to goal. The other semi-final will see Japan take on Malaysia. Japan finished second in the league standings with 10 points, while Malaysia were third with nine. Japan's 2-1 win over Malaysia on the final day helped them secure the higher position. Malaysia's attacking threat will be led by Abu Kamal Azrai, who has scored five goals, and Anuar Akhimullah, who has four. The fifth-sixth place classification match will be played between China and Bangladesh. While China enter the contest as the favourites, a positive result for Bangladesh would be a major boost for hockey in the country. The India-South Korea semi-final will begin at 1900 hrs IST on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, China will face Bangladesh at 1400 hrs for the fifth-sixth place, followed by the first semi-final between Japan and Malaysia at 1630 hrs. (ANI)
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