Azlan Shah Cup 2025: Raheel's Solitary Strike Seals India's Victory Over Korea

<p>Ipoh (Malaysia): A solitary strike from Mohammed Raheel in the opening quarter saw a second-string Indian side defeat three-time champions South Korea 1-0 in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament opener here on Sunday.</p> <p>India, competing in the prestigious tournament after a gap of six years, scored the goal in the 15th minute when the hard-working Dilpreet Singh set it up for Raheel following a fine buildup by the men in blue, who enjoyed midfield dominance thanks largely to Abhishek and captain Sanjay, who was part of the Paris Olympic bronze-winning side.</p> <p>The Koreans in fact had to do a lot of defending as India attacked from both flanks and even earned a penalty corner as early as in the fourth minute with Sanjay stepping up to take the set-piece.</p> <p>However, the defender's shot was saved by the rival goalkeeper.</p> <p>The five-time champions, who have entered the prestigious tournament after six years -- India last played here in 2019 and finished runners-up to Korea -- were in a spot of bother in the second quarter when the Koreans were making a desperate bid for the equaliser.</p> <p>Korea had a chance in the 27th minute when one of their forwards made a full-hearted attempt to reach a passing ball in front of the goalmouth but could not connect despite a sliding effort.</p> <p>India went into half-time leading 1-0.</p> <p>India were back in dominant form in the third quarter and kept charging upfront regularly. They earned a penalty corner through Abhishek but the shot was way off target.</p> <p>With India leaving hardly any pockets of space for the Koreans to attack, the story of dominance continued in the final quarter.</p> <p>The match, which was scheduled to commence at 1:30pm IST got delayed by more than six hours due to incessant rains.</p> <p>India will take on Belgium on Monday. Each side plays the other five teams once in a round-robin format with the winner earning three points and a draw fetching one point.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)</strong></p>

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