Koreans start count with 8-0 win

SOUTH Korea opened their bid to win a hat-trick of Asian Games men’s field hockey titles with a 8-0 demolition of lowly Oman on Tuesday.
China, silver-medallists behind the Koreans at Doha four years ago, downed Singapore 2-0 after two second-half goals from Lu Fenghui and Liu Yixian.
The Koreans outwitted their hapless rivals after scoring twice in the first three minutes which opened the floodgates for a goal-spree in the group A match at the Aoti Hockey stadium.
The defending champions led 3-0 at half-time and then pumped in five more goals in the second session to warn rivals in the 10-nation competition of their awesome firepower.
Hyun Hye-Sung and Nam Hyun-Woo scored two goals apiece, while Seo Jong-Ho, Jang Jong-Hyun, You Hyo-Sik and Lee Nam-Yong chipped in with one each.
South Korea have won four of the last five Asiad men’s titles, indicating their firm grip on the sport in Asia that was earlier dominated by former champions India and Pakistan.
“We are confident we can win the gold medal again because we are in good form,” said Hyun.
“There are very tough teams in this competition like India, Pakistan and China, but we know how to beat them.” South Korea are drawn with China, Malaysia, Singapore and Oman in group A, from which two teams will qualify for the semi-finals.
The other group has India, Pakistan, Japan, Bangladesh and Hong Kong.
Men Group A South Korea 8 (Seo Jong-Ho 1, Hyun Hye-Sung 3, 61, Nam Hyun-Woo 6, 50, Jang Jong-Hyun 39, You Hyo-Sik 47, Lee Nam-Yong 63) Oman 0 H-t: 3-0 China 2 (Lu Fenghui 56, Liu Yixian 65) Singapore 0 H-t: 0-0
Women’s round-robin Japan 3 (Miyuki Nakagawa 5, Kaori Chiba 11, Mazuki Arai 70) India 0 H-t: 2-0 China 3 (Ma Yibo 2, Zhao Yudiao 11, Song Qingling 19) Kazakhstan 0 H-t: 3-0 South Korea 4 (Park Mi-Hyun 27, Cheon Seul-Ki 39, Kim Eun-Sil 49, Lee Seon-Ok 67) Malaysia 0 H-t: 1-0