Home ›› 23 Dec 2021 ›› Sport
South Korea penned an incredible comeback story in the final of the Asian Champions Trophy as they beat Japan 4-2 in the shootout after a 3-3 stalemate to claim the title at the Maulana Bhashani National Hockey Stadium in Dhaka on Wednesday.
Korea were down and out till the 54th minute as they were trailing 3-1, but in the final six minutes, they managed to muster a miracle.
In the 55th minute, Jang Jonghyun scored from a penalty corner to bring them back. And with six seconds left in the match, Korea had another penalty corner, their final opportunity to take the game to a shootout.
And they did not falter. Jonghyun once again hit the target as Korea pulled off a near-impossible comeback.
And in the shootout, they stayed perfect in their four penalty strokes, whereas Japan missed two, resulting in Korea taking the trophy home.
Earlier, it was Korea’s Jun-woo Jeong who opened the scoring with a field goal in the eighth minute. But in the second quarter, Japan came back as Hiroto Takebayashi struck from a penalty corner to equalize before Ryoma Ooka scored a field goal to take them ahead.
And in the third quarter, Yoshiki Kirishita scored from another penalty corner to make it 3-1, which seemed like enough for them to claim the bragging rights of the championship.
But then, Korea made their way back and ensured that it was them who had the bragging rights. Earlier in the day, India beat Pakistan 4-3 to claim third place.
