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India win hockey gold

India regained their pride of place in Asian hockey when they dethroned defending champions South Korea 5-3 to secure the gold at the 13th Asian Games in Bangkok today. For India, the gold came after an agonising wait of 32 years.

The two teams were tied 1-1 at the end of regulation time and the 15 minutes of extra-time also failed to produce the golden goal.

For India, Ramandeep, Baljit Dhillon, Mohamed Riaz and Mukesh Kumar converted in the shootout.

The electrifying match saw a Korean defender being shown the yellow card for rough tackle on Mukesh Kumar.

Korea took the lead in the seventh minute through Jeong Young Kyun who converted their second penalty corner (1-0).

Playing in hot and humid conditions, captain Dhanraj Pillay scored the equaliser in the 22nd minute after the ball was deflected by a Korean defender on a penalty corner.

Baljit Singh Dhillon took the hit which was stopped by Mukesh Kumar but his shot was deflected off a Korean defender's stick. Dhanraj Pillay lapped it up and made no mistake to sound the board (1-1).

This was the eleventh goal in the tournament for the prolific Indian captain.

India had last won their Asian Games hockey gold at Bangkok in 1966. This was sweet revenge for India who were beaten by the Koreans in the finals at the 1994 Hiroshima Games. India had beaten Korea in the league phase 2-1 in the current edition of the games.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was quick to congratulate the Indian hockey team for their splendid performance in bringing back the gold medal to India.

Within minutes after India beat South Korea via the tie-breaker at the Bangkok Asian Games, the prime minister praised the team for the victory.

UNI