2007_Men's_Hockey_Asia_Cup
The 2007 Men's Hockey Asia Cup was the seventh tournament of the Hockey Asia Cup for men. It was held from 31 August – 9 September 2007 in Chennai, India. India won, defeating Korea in the finals, seven goals to two. Korea came in second and Malaysia came third.[1]
India led 3-1 at halftime. In the early stages of the second half, Korea staged a walkout led by their coach, because of a decision by the umpire to disallow a goal scored by Korea. In response, India scored a goal through a counterattack in the next minute. Two Korean forwards had continued to argue with the umpire on the disallowed goal. Korea never recovered, while India's forward line scored 3 more goals to make it 7–1 before Korea reduced the margin to 7–2 in the penultimate minute. [2]
Baljit Singh, the Indian goalkeeper, was declared the man of the match for his excellent saves. The striking feature of India's win was that all 7 goals were 'field' goals, and none of them came through 'penalty corners' or 'strokes'. India thus ended the tournament with 57 goals for and just 5 goals against them.[3]
Malaysia got a medal in the Hockey Asia Cup for the first time. It was also the first time since 1982 that Pakistan did not qualify for the Semi-finals in the Hockey Asia Cup. Pakistan lost to Japan 3–1 and drew their league match against Malaysia 3–3. Pakistan lost to China in the 5th/6th place playoff, and ended 6th in the tournament.
