Harpal Singh Bedi
South Korea dashed Japan’s hope of winning another continental title as they beat Asian Games champion 4-2 in a penalty shoot -out to clinch the Hero Asian Champions Trophy in a shoot-out at the Maulana Bhasani Hockey Stadium in Dhaka (Bangladesh) on Wednesday evening.
Earlier India beat Pakistan 4-3 to win the bronze
Japan failed to defend 3-1 lead and later in the penalty shoot-out muffed first and third and with that their chances of winning the trophy went up in smoke.
Both the teams were levelled 3-3 at the end of the regulation time leading to the penalty shoot out in which Korea beat Japan, winning their first title at the competition,
In a well contested final, South Korea took the lead in the eighth minute through Jeong Jun-woo (1-0).
The Japanese bounced back strongly by not only equalizing the goal but also taking the lead through Ken Nagayoshi (1-1) and Ryoma Ooka (2-1) before the half time
Eight minutes into the second half, Yoshika Kirishita scored the third goal for Japan (3-1) and looked on their way to victory but a late double by Jang Jong-hyun remarkably took the match to penalties.
Jang scored in the 55th, before getting the equaliser in the last seconds to make it 3-3.
In the shoot-out, South Korean captain Lee Jung-jun, Ji Woo-cheon and Hwang Tae-il scored before Lee scored the winner.
Raiki Fujishima missed Japan’s opener and Kosei Kawabe missed the third, while Ryoma Ooka and captain Seren Tanaka managed to score but their efforts failed to help the team .