Johor Bahru (Malaysia): India Thursday virtually sealed a place in the final of the U-21 3rd Sultan of Johor Cup handing out a 6-1 thrashing to South Korea at the Taman Daya Hockey stadium here.
It was India's fourth consecutive win, after beating England (2-1), Argentina (3-2) and Pakistan (4-0). India have collected 12 points and will play their last match in the preliminary stage Saturday against Malaysia.
However, India can confirm their berth only if Malaysia beat Pakistan in Thursday's last match. A win for the hosts will also secure a final spot for them as well.
It was a commanding performance from the Indians as they dominated the first half, racing to a comfortable 3-0 lead.
India opened the scoring through Amit Rohidass in the seventh minute whose penalty corner drag flick sailed high into the right hand corner of the South Korean goal with keeper Lee Se Young watching helplessly.
Two minutes later India doubled their advantage as Satbir Singh put the finishing touches to a move from the right by Harjeet Singh.
India widened their advantage as Talwinder Singh scored in the 31st minute to make it 3-0.
However, the Koreans managed to reduce the deficit in the 34th minute when You Seung Ju scored from a penalty corner.
India slowed down the pace in the second half and allowed the Koreans to win a couple of penalty corners but which failed conversion.
Amon Mirash Tirkey scored India's fourth goal in the 57th minute and Ramandeep Singh scored the fifth in the 62nd minute. Yusof Affan completed the rout in the 65th minute to make it 6-1 for India.
