Maintaining their dominant run in men’s hockey at the Asian Games 2026, India secured an 8-2 victory over South Korea in their Pool A encounter at the Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium in Aichi-Nagoya on Thursday, marking their third consecutive win to stay at the summit of Pool A following previous blowout wins of 13-1 against Indonesia and 16-1 against Sri Lanka, as the Indian team quickly took charge of the match with an early goal in the fourth minute, a second goal by Dilpreet Singh, a penalty corner conversion by captain Harmanpreet Singh making it 3-0, and a 14th-minute strike by Abhishek Nain that wrapped up a 4-0 first-quarter lead, allowing India to dictate the tempo and possession in the second quarter despite South Korea’s efforts to slow them down, resulting in a fifth goal by Dilpreet Singh from a Mandeep Singh assist and a 0-5 half-time scoreline, which was followed in the third quarter by Dilpreet completing his hat-trick to push the lead to 6-0, and though both teams squandered penalty corner chances, Abhishek Nain netted India’s seventh goal to extend the pressure, prompting a late response from South Korea as Kim Jaeho scored in the third quarter to make it 1-7, and despite South Korea’s fourth-quarter push and penalty corners, Indian goalkeeper Mohit Shashikumar blocked their attempts until Park scored a second goal for South Korea to make it 2-7, though India had the final say when they converted another penalty corner with only 30 seconds left on the clock to seal the 8-2 win, preserving their unbeaten streak at the top of Pool A as they prepare to face Japan and Bangladesh next in the Asian Games 2026 tournament.
