BANGKOK: With a place in next year’s World Cup up for grabs, Indian eves will settle for nothing less than a victory when they take on South Korea in the first semi-final of the seventh women’s Asia Cup hockey on Friday.

A win, on Friday, will ensure India a direct entry in the women’s hockey World Cup to be held at Rosario, Argentina in August-September next year.

The game against Korea also provides India the opportunity to avenge its 2-5 semifinal loss at the hands of same opponents in the previous edition of the tournament in Hong Kong.

To help India’s cause the present Korean team is younger and inexperienced, with as many as 10 members of the side have either been dropped or retired since last Asia Cup.

However inspite of all these, the task won’t be a cakewalk for the Indians as like India, Korea is also undefeated in the event so far and would be eager to revive its dwindling fortunes, its’ lowest ever world ranking at 10.

Agreeing that Korea would be a tough nut to crack, India coach MK Kaushik said the eves will have to curb their attacking instinct and be more vigilant.

“We have so far played all out game, but against Korea it will be different. We will be cautious,” said Kaushik.

Senior India forward Mamta Kharab, who scored the winner in the bronze medal play off in Doha Asian Games and also both the goals at the Hong Kong edition of the event against Korea, also agreed with her coach and said they will have to do away with their habit of conceding soft goal scoring chances to their opponents.

“Korea’s strength is penalty corner. We should avoid giving them many and for that we should tackle them beyond the circle to the extent possible,” she said.

“We have defeated Korea in the Doha Asian Games and we hope to repeat the same performance tomorrow,” she added.

Interestingly, even though the Korean team is inexperienced, they have amassed 59 goals from their five outings, the maximum by any team in the tournament so far.

The Koreans’ precision in their opponent’s striking circle can be gauged from the fact that as many as 13 players of the squad figure in the scorers list with strikers Seul Ki Cheon and Jong Eun Kim topping the chart with 12 goals each.

On the other hand, the Indian forwards, have been inconsistent and inaccurate. They are needlessly elaborative inside the circle and loathe in latching on to the rebounds.

To add to India’s worry, with the likes of Sun Soo Oh, Sena Cha, So Ra Mi and Seul Ki Cheon manning the defence, it will be difficult for Indian forwards too make inroads into the Korean circle, and they will have to capitalise on the chances they get on Friday.

Historically, Korea have always been a thorn in the flesh for India, handing out heavy defeats in the Asian Games and Asia Cup arenas. But the Indians will have to shrug those statistics from their mind if they desire to progress to the title clash.

If India utilizes its experience in right measure and makes use of the upfront forays, there is no reason why they can’t prevail over Korea on Friday.