India thrash South Korea 4-1 to clinch men's Asia Cup hockey title after eight years

Public Lokpal
September 08, 2025

RAJGIR: Dilpreet Singh scored a brace as a dominant India defeated defending champions South Korea 4-1 to win the men's Asia Cup hockey tournament after a hiatus of eight years and qualify for next year's FIH World Cup, here on Sunday.

With four titles in their bag, India have become the second-most successful team in the Asia Cup behind five-time champions Korea.

India had last won the title in 2017 in Dhaka following successes in the 2003 (Kuala Lumpur) and 2007 (Chennai) editions of the continental tournament.

The title ensured India's direct entry into next year's FIH World Cup to be jointly hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands from August 14 to 30.

Malaysia finish third

Malaysia, ranked 12th in the world, defeated China 3-0 in a classification match to finish third in the tournament.

Malaysia were by far the better side on display than world No. 22 China as they dominated the proceedings and created plenty of scoring chances throughout the match.

Malaysia were on the offensive from the word go and continued in the same vein throughout the match, while China were content sitting behind and defending, a move that backfired.

Japan beat Bangladesh to finish 5th

World No. 18 Japan registered a convincing 6-1 win over Bangladesh to finish fifth.

For Japan, Ryosuke Shinohara (15th, 38th, 56th minutes) scored a hat-trick while Koji Yamasaki (9th), Ken Nagayoshi (36th) and Seren Tanaka (50th) found the net once each.

World No. 28 Bangladesh's lone goal was scored by Amirul Islam in the 55th minute.

PTI