Heartbreak for India, draw 4-4 with South Korea to go out of Asia Cup title race

Asia Cup title race, here on Tuesday. Malaysia's 5-0 win over Japan early in the day meant that an outright win became a prerequisite for India to qualify for the summit clash. As it happened: India vs KoreaIndia, Malaysia and Korea finished on five points each in the Super 4 stage but the Birendra Lakra-side fell behind on goal difference. Nilam Sanjeep Xess (9th minute), Dipsan Tirkey (21st), Mahesh Sheshe Gowda (22nd) and Sakthivel Mareeswaran (37th) scored for India, while Korea scored through Jang Jonghyun (13th), Ji Woo Cheon (18th), Kim JungHoo (28th) and Jung Manjae (44th). Korea will now take on Malaysia in the final on Wednesday, while India will play Japan in the third-fourth place classification match.

It was a midfield slugfest between the two sides as both India and Korea tried to take upper hand in the first quarter. India secured a penalty corner in the second minute but Nilam Sanjeep Xess' effort was saved by the Korean goalkeeper Jaehyeon Kim. But in the ninth minute Nilam scored with a low flick to the right bottom corner of the Korean net past Kim from India's second penalty corner. Two minutes into the first quarter, India conceded a penalty corner and Jang Jonghyun was bang on target to draw level for Korea.

Korea made it 2-1 five minutes later when Ji Woo Cheon chose his spot after being fed by Jungjun Lee following a defensive lapse from Pawan Rajbhar inside his own circle. But India drew level three minutes later when Dipsan Tirkey converted the team's third penalty corner. Mahesh Sheshe Gowda restored the lead a minute later, pushing home Vishnukant Singh's pass from a counter-attack. Korea secured another penalty corner but this time the Indians defended well to deny Jang. Two minutes from