Rain, roaring crowd and smart Koreans: Indian hockey team undone by fierce obstacles in Asia Cup Super 4 opener

Rajgir: The more you watch the highlights reels of India’s ‘Super 4’ match against South Korea in the men’s hockey Asia Cup, the more Hardik Singh’s words ring in your ears. A day before Wednesday’s match, the Indian vice-captain had categorically said: “Our game will depend on the execution of our forwards”. The game panned out word for word.

Interestingly, Hardik showed how it’s done, as early as in the 8th minute after a rain-delayed start at the Rajgir Sports Complex. At the end of his solo run, from almost the half-line, moving a bit diagonally towards the centre before cutting the first of three defenders to move inwards, Hardik aligned himself perfectly in front of the goal to release the finishing shot with precision to beat the goalkeeper. The play reminded him of his almost similar effort at the Tokyo Olympics.

𝐍𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐈𝐌! 😎

Hardik Singh and his sensational run from the midfield to slot in India’s opener against Korea at the Hero Asia Cup Rajgir, Bihar 2025 is what dreams are made of.#HockeyIndia #IndiaKaGame #HumSeHaiHockey #HeroAsiaCupRajgir pic.twitter.com/TDsbwRiPgB

— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) September 3, 2025

But in the next six minutes, by the 14th minute precisely, Korea, the defending champions, earned a penalty stroke for a push on the back by Jugraj Singh and a penalty corner. They converted both, through Jihun Yang and Hyeonhong Kim, to startle the Indians.

Korea show their smarts as Indian forwards struggle

That, though, was not the worrying part. There were still 46 minutes left in the game. The concern that grew over the next three quarters was that the Indian strikers were not just failing to produce the goal-scoring final touch but also almost forgot their second-best scoring chance – that of earning penalty corners and bringing skipper Harmanpreet Singh into play.

The Koreans carried smarter brains on the day. They frustrated the Indians by packing the defence as the game moved towards half-time. It wasn’t that the Indians were not creating chances, but strikers like the usually reliable Abhishek was a little too keen to turn and move the ball to his wrong side for his favourite tomahawks. But it was more baffling than thrilling to see his shots at goal flying off the face of the Korean post.

“Every player is different. Abhishek is more confident about his reverse hits at goal and has scored more often that way. It was just not his day,” veteran midfielder Manpreet Singh told Firstpost.

An adjustment players need to make in rain-marred games is to deal with wet grips, which can at times make trapping the ball trickier – an aspect of Wednesday’s match in which the Koreans were a lot more confident and skillful in comparison.

“It’s not an excuse, because it’s the same for both the teams, but it takes a lot of adjustment when the grip is wet. I agree we missed a lot of chances and should have scored 5-6 goals,” said Mandeep Singh, before he walked into the changing room.

India vs Korea – current scenes. Match yet to begin after a short but heavy spell of rain, accompanied by thunder.

Rules say ‘can’t play in case of thunder’ that brings risk of a lightning strike. #Hockey #Rajgir #Bihar #India #INDvKOR pic.twitter.com/WSfCfm3fDt

— Jaspreet Singh (@JaspritSingh09) September 3, 2025

The crowd was patient for the 53 minutes they had to wait for the start. It was a pleasant evening, the fans were enjoying the weather even when there was no roof above the small stands here. Almost everyone stayed put, and they were at the top of their voice.

Coach Craig Fulton was of the view that loud cheers can sometimes distract, which can lead to 50:50 split-second decisions that players otherwise won’t make.

“We just had to deal with the moment a bit better. The crowd is baying for blood; they just want goals and when the noise is high, everyone thinks we need to hit a bit harder or do more. Like I said, we just have to live in the moment and then play to the spaces (we create),” said Fulton.

Coach Fulton backs Indian forwards to come good

The second half saw Indian players swarming the Korean side of the pitch with regularity, finding the “space” that Fulton talked about, but with even open chances getting missed, it was like accepting the fact that it’s not India’s day.

Sukhjeet, who otherwise was the pivot of the Indian attack on Wednesday, missed a sitter when Manpreet’s pinpointed cross found him unmarked in the Korean circle. He failed to beat the goalkeeper Jaehan Kim, who stood out among the goalkeepers on show and was named the ‘Man of the Match’.

The ball kept finding Abhishek in opportune positions to score and he kept missing. Eventually, he started struggling to find a clean connection, finding thin air on one occasion and ending up digging the ball out on another.

The 53rd minute produced the moment India were waiting for. Set up by Sukhjeet, Mandeep came to India’s rescue and tapped the ball in to find the equaliser. A penalty corner seconds later gave India the chance to clinch the game, but Harmanpreet failed to add to his seven goals in the tournament so far.

“If we create the same number of chances in the next game, we will score three goals and that’s the truth,” said Fulton.

⚔ 𝗦𝗨𝗣𝗘𝗥 𝟰𝘀 𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗛 ⚔

India show warrior spirit to pull off a late draw against Korea! Catch the full highlights from the Hero Asia Cup Rajgir, Bihar 2025. 🏑#HockeyIndia #IndiaKaGame #HumSeHaiHockey #HeroAsiaCupRajgir pic.twitter.com/PcXpSDzty7

— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) September 3, 2025

The team doesn’t have to wait much to go out and live up to Fulton’s words. They will next be up against Malaysia on Thursday – the only unbeaten team of the tournament. The runners-up of the last two Asia Cup editions beat China in their opening ‘Super 4’ match 2-0 and will present an equally stiff, if not stiffer, challenge to India, who can’t afford a defeat now after being held by Korea.

And the home team will do well to listen to Hardik Singh’s words. “We depend on the execution of our forwards.”

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