Junior Men's Hockey World Cup: Korea Script Fighting Victory Over Poland

Korea registered a fighting 3-2 victory over Poland in a keenly contested 9th to 12th place match of the FIH Odisha Hockey Men's Junior world Cup at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Thursday.

Both the teams started with some skillful hockey and flawless shot passes. However, Korea were rewarded with a penalty corner in the 12th minute of the match and Hong Jinyoung dully converted it in a controlled manner to open the account for them. The first quarter went in favour of the Korean team with a 1-0 lead. 

Poland tried to make amends in the second quarter as they made several surges into the D of the opposition, but the ever agile Korean defenders foiled their attempts. Finally their effort bore fruit with Rutkowski Wojciech hitting the equaliser in the 21st minute. Moreover, they got a penalty corner in the 26th minute and  Rutkowski converted it to give Poland 2-1 lead. However, just a minute later Kim Hyunwoo scored the equaliser with a hit from the left flank.

The 2-2 lead set up an exciting second half and the third quarter saw Korea snatching back the lead in the 33rd minute through Hyunwoo. They earned two  successive penalty corners three minutes later, but failed to capitalise. Korea ended with a 3-2 lead after the completion of the third quarter.

Both the teams increased their intensity in the fourth quarter, but the scoreline remained the same.