Korea back in reckoning with a 3-1 win over Belgium

Trailing 0-1 till the 46th minute,Asian champion South Korea staged a fine rally to overpower Belgium 3-1 and kept themselves in the reckoning for thesemifinal berth in the Olympic Hockey competition here today.

In a pool ‘B’ match, a equaliser in the dying moments enabled Britain survive a scare as they drew 1-1 with lowly Canada.

The pool A match between Korea and Belgium was full of twists and turns with the video umpire giving two crucial decision which affected the outcome of the match in favour of the Asian team.

Belgium, who started aggressively, repeatedly attacked the Korean citadel and finally managed to get the breakthrough in the 20th minute through Jerome Dekseyer who cut through the defence and hit the board with a reverse hit (1-0).

Belgium looked like sealing the match in their favour when two minutes before the breather they scored their second goal which, however, was disallowed following a referral to the video umpire.

In the second session, a recharged Korea went flat out on the offensive and equalised through You Hyo Sik in the 46th minute.

Belgium protested the goal but Video umpire upheld the field umpire’s decision. The distracted European side conceded two more goals in the space of two minutes as the Koreans turned the on the heat.

Jang Jong Hyun put Korea ahead in the 50th minute when he converted a penalty corner and minute later You Hyo Sik scored his second and the team’s third goal to seal the match in Korea’s favour.

Korea now have seven points from four matches while Belgium, who slid to their third defeat, have one point from four matches.

The point they earned was from a 1-1 draw against Germany.

In other match, Matt Daly scored with just three minutes to go for the final whistle to help Britain manage a point against Canada.

In a scrappy match that saw yellow card suspension for three players – Sukhwinder (Canada), Matt Daly and James Tindall (Britain), Canada dominated the match but Kullar Bindi muffed some easy sitters to fritter away the advantage.

However, Canada surged ahead in the 48th minute when Paul Wettlaufer’s free-hit was deflected into net by Ken Pereira (1-0). But they could not hold on to the lead as in the 67th minute Daly deflected home Barry Middleton free hit for the equaliser (1-1).

Britain have seven points from four matches and will play their last pool league match against Australia on Tuesday.