Junior Men's Hockey World Cup : South Africa Spank Korea, Script Convincing Win

A superior South Africa registered an emphatic 4-0 victory over dodgy Korea in the 9th-10th place match of the FIH Junior Men's World Cup Hockey tournament at the Kalinga Stadium on Saturday.

Both the teams started brilliantly and hardly gave an inch to each other. South Africa created a scoring opportunity in the 10th minute, but couldn't pierce the net. They also missed another couple of opportunities in the first quarter which ended goalless.

The second quarter also saw fierce battle between both the teams. But the ball was mainly confined to the midfield and the D could hardly be penetrated. The first half ended barren.

South Africa upped their ante after the start of the third quarter and created an opportunity in form of a penalty corner in the 34th minute. Skipper Guy Morgan grabbed it in both the hands to open the account for them. However, they missed another penalty corner opportunity three minutes later. Korea showed a sense of resurgence, but couldn't capitalise on a scoring chance inside the D. Somehow, South Africa maintained their solitary lead at the end of the third quarter.

In the final quarter South Africa came all guns blazing and scored twice in the 47th minute to increase their lead to 3-0. While Morgan scored his brace by converting a penalty corner, Trevor De Lora struck a brilliant field goal in the same minute by a fierce hit from the right flank. Senani Karai led the surge of South Africa to increase there lead to 4-0 in the 53rd minute. Korea players tried their best to reduce the margin, but failed in their attempt against the agile defenders of the opposition.