India beat South Korea 4-1 to enter men's Asian Champions Trophy hockey final
Hulunbuir (China), Sep 16: Skipper Harmanpreet Singh's sublime form resulted in twin strikes as defending champions India entered the final of the Hero Asian Champions Trophy with a clinical 4-1 win against South Korea in the semi-final here on Monday.
India scored through Uttam Singh (13th minute), skipper Harmanpreet Singh (19th, 45th) and Jarmanpreet Singh (32nd), while Korea's lone goal came from through Yang Jihun (33rd)'s penalty corner conversion.
India will take on hosts China in Tuesday's final. Earlier in the day, China defeated Pakistan 2-0 via shoot-out in the first semifinal after the two teams finished 1-1 at the end of regulation 60 minutes.
In the previous league stage encounter between the two finalists, India prevailed 3-0.
Pakistan and Korea will face off in the third place classification match which will also be played on Tuesday.
Meanwhile in the fifth-sixth place classification match, Japan beat Malaysia 4-2 in shoot-out following a 4-4 stalemate in normal time.
In the second semifinal as expected, the Indians started on the offensive and tested the Korean defence with persistent attacks from the word go.
The Koreans, on the other hand, were contend to sit back and defend and rely on sporadic counter attacks.
Abhishek came tantalisingly close to handing India the lead in the fourth minute but his reverse hit was brilliantly saved by Korean goalkeeper Kim Jaehan.
The Indian made promising build ups and penetrated the Korean circle on consistent basis in the first quarter.
India's attacking intent finally paid of in the 13th minute when Uttam positioned himself at the right place at the right time to tap in Araijeet Singh Hundal's supply from the right.
A minute from the first break, Korea secured back-to-back penalty corners but failed to utilise the chances.
Four minutes into the second quarter, India secured their first penalty corner and Harmanpreet scored his sixth goal of the tournament to hand his side a 2-0 lead.
At the stroke of half-time, custodian Suraj Karkera came out of his line to save an effort from the opposition player.
India continued in the same vein after the change of ends and extended their lead two minutes into the third quarter.
A brilliant scoop from Sumit from the right finds Jarmanpreet just outside the circle on the left flank and the latter neatly collected the ball and took a step or two to get inside the circle and slap the ball into the Korean goal to extend India's lead.
But Korea pulled one back a minute later from a penalty corner through the tournament's top-scorer Yang Jihun.
The goal hardly bothered the Indians as they continued their attacking game and dominated the share of exchanges.
With a second left for the third quarter, India secured another penalty corner when Korean goalkeeper Jaehan was shown the yellow card for handling the ball out side the circle, and Harmanpreet made no mistake to extend the lead.
Eight minutes from the final hooter, India's second goalkeeper Karkera made a fine double save to deny Park Cheoleon, but the Koreans secured a penalty corner which went in vain.
Thereafter, it was controlled show from the Indians as they defended their lead with consummate ease to march into their fifth final appearance in the tournament.
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Iran reimposes restrictions on Strait of Hormuz, accusing US of violating deal to reopen it
Cairo (AP): Iran swiftly reversed course on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, reimposing restrictions on the critical waterway on Saturday after the US said it would not end its blockade of Iran-linked shipping.
Iran's joint military command said on Saturday that “control of the Strait of Hormuz has returned to its previous state ... under strict management and control of the armed forces.” It warned that it would continue to block transit through the strait as long as the US blockade of Iranian ports remained in effect.
The announcement came the morning after US President Donald Trump said that even after Iran announced the strait's reopening on Friday, the American blockade “will remain in full force” until Tehran reaches a deal with the US, including on its nuclear programme.
The conflict over the chokepoint threatened to deepen the energy crisis roiling the global economy after oil prices began to fall again on Friday on hopes the US and Iran were drawing closer to an agreement. Roughly one-fifth of the world's oil passes through the strait, and further limits would squeeze already constrained supply, driving prices higher once again.
Control over the strait has proven to be one of Iran's main points of leverage and prompted the United States to deploy forces and initiate a blockade on Iranian ports as part of an effort to force Iran to accept a Pakistan-brokered ceasefire to end almost seven weeks of war that has raged between Israel, the US and Iran.
Iran said it fully reopened the Strait of Hormuz to commercial vessels after a 10-day truce was announced between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. But after Trump said the blockade would continue, top Iranian officials said his announcement violated last week's ceasefire agreement between Iran and the US and warned the strait would not stay open if the US blockade remained in effect.
A data firm, Kpler, said movement through the strait remained confined to corridors requiring Iran's approval.
US forces have sent 21 ships back to Iran since the blockade began on Monday, US Central Command said on X.
Truce in Lebanon could help US-Iran peace efforts
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The ceasefire in Lebanon could clear one major obstacle to an agreement. But it was unclear to what extent Hezbollah would abide by a deal it did not play a role in negotiating, and which will leave Israeli troops occupying a stretch of southern Lebanon.
Trump said in another post that Israel is “prohibited” by the US from further strikes on Lebanon and that “enough is enough” in the Israel-Hezbollah war.
The State Department said the prohibition applies only to offensive attacks and not to actions taken in self-defence.
Shortly before Trump's post, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel agreed to the ceasefire in Lebanon “at the request of my friend President Trump,” but that the campaign against Hezbollah is not complete.
He claimed Israel had destroyed about 90 per cent of Hezbollah's missile and rocket stockpiles and added that Israeli forces “have not finished yet” with the dismantling of the group.
In Beirut, displaced families began moving toward southern Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs despite warnings by officials not to return to their homes until it became clear whether the ceasefire would hold.
The Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon reported sporadic artillery shelling in some parts of southern Lebanon in the hours after the ceasefire took effect.
An end to Israel's war with Hezbollah was a key demand of Iranian negotiators, who previously accused Israel of breaking last week's ceasefire with strikes on Lebanon. Israel had said that the deal did not cover Lebanon.
The fighting has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,290 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen US service members have also been killed.
