New Delhi: Jarmanpreet Singh stands out on a hockey pitch. Tall and muscular, his stickwork and pace as well as a flowing beard makes him a distinct figure. On Monday, the 28-year-old shone again to help India breeze past South Korea 4-1 and enter the Asian Champions Trophy final.

The skilful right-back’s ability to rapidly change the pace of the game and create several chances up front was exploited by Uttam Singh (13th minute) and skipper Harmanpreet Singh (19th, 45th) to earn the defending champions their sixth win on the trot in Hulunbuir City, China.

Jarmanpreet capped his excellent game with an impressive strike – goals are not common for non drag-flicking defenders – in the 32nd minute, which was perhaps the finest goal of the match.

Fellow defender Sumit delivered an aerial ball from the middle of the pitch which Jarmanpreet, on the right, got hold off with ease and slapped home from the top of the shooting circle, his first goal since February.

“We played exceptionally well today. We are happy to advance to the final. Sumit provided me with a splendid ball for the goal and I am thankful to my roommate who understands me so well, for setting it up for me,” said Jarmanpreet, a 120-match veteran now who was named Player-of-the-Match.

Drag-flicker Yang Ji-hun (33rd) scored his eighth goal of the tournament for South Korea’s consolation effort.

Career turnaround

One of the two stalwarts of the Indian defence along with skipper Harmanpreet, Jarmanpreet has witnessed an incredible turnaround in his career. The defender was banned in 2015 for failing a dope test, which took away two years of a burgeoning career.

Though he made his India debut a year later, he fell out of favour of former chief coach Graham Reid, who preferred Haryana’s Surender Kumar. As a result, Jarmanpreet played only 23 matches in his first four years of international hockey, suffering his biggest heartbreak when he missed out on the Tokyo Olympics.

But under current chief coach Craig Fulton, who emphasises on strengthening the defence, Jarmanpreet has emerged a key member of the team. The South African coach has positioned the Surjit Singh Hockey Academy product in the crucial right back position. While he played 35 games for India last year, he has already played 34 this year. The highlight of this busy season was helping India win the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics.

At the Moqi Training Base, Jarmanpreet has picked up from where he had left in the French capital, helping India begin the semi-final on the front foot, the team forcing a save from the Korean goalkeeper Kim Jae-han.

While the Indian defence smothered the occasional Korean counterattack, the forwards finally broke through, scoring a lovely team goal when former skipper Manpreet Singh passed to Raj Kumar Pal, who pushed it towards Araijeet Singh Hundal, who smashed it across from the right for Uttam to tap in.

Jarmanpreet, who hails from Rajdhan village in the Amritsar district of Punjab, earned India their first penalty corner (PC) early in the second quarter which Harmanpreet struck to double the lead.

Soon after Jarmanpreet made it 3-1 at the start of the third quarter, South Korea, who won the tournament in 2021, responded by earning a PC and Yang drag-flicked it down the middle to beat goalkeeper Krishan Pathak.

Both teams created scoring opportunities as the third quarter drew to a close but an error from Korean goalkeeper Kim Jae-han, which earned him a 10-minute yellow card, gifted India another PC. Harmanpreet flicked the ball hard and low to new keeper Oh Dae-won’s right, making it 4-1 for India.

China stun Pakistan

Hosts China stunned Pakistan 1-1 (2-0 shootout) to enter the final of the six-team tournament for the first time, leaving three-time winners Pakistan to take on Korea in the third place playoff.

Lu Yuanlin (18th) gave China the lead before Ahmad Nadeem (37th) drew parity for Pakistan. China goalkeeper Wang Caiyu emerged the star of the game. His outstanding efforts thwarted all four of Pakistan’s opportunities in the shootout to the delight of the home fans, who had turned up in large numbers as it was a government holiday for the Mooncake Festival, which marks the post-autumn harvest celebrations across China. Chen Benhai and Lin Changliang scored for China in the shootout.

“We prepared for this match with great enthusiasm. We discussed strategies in small batches before we finally got together as a team and prepared for the match,” said Player-of-the-Match Lu. “It also helped that we had played a few test matches against Pakistan just before this tournament. We had won against them in some of those matches, so we were quite upbeat.”

Japan beat Malaysia 4-2 in the 5-6 position playoff.

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