India beat South Korea 5-2 to finish 7th in hockey

India came good, but only when it was too late, as they retained their seventh place at the Olympics.

Updated on: Aug 27, 2004, 13:55:00 IST

PTI | By Anonymous, Athens

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India came good but only when it was too late as they rode on a first half blitz to prevail over South Korea 5-2 and retain their seventh place in the Olympic Games men's hockey competition on Friday.

After a disastrous show in the mega tournament, the Indians finally found their rhythm in the classification match for the seventh place, as they opened up a wide 4-0 lead by half time.

Indians had finished seventh in the last edition of the Games at Sydney in 2000.

Gagan Ajit Singh gave a good start to the Indians today by netting an early brace (4th and 12th), before Vikram Pillay (15th) and Prabhjot Singh (33rd) scored one apiece prior to the first half hooter.

However, the Indians switched to a somewhat defensive mode in the second session enabling the Koreans to pull two goals back through penalty corner conversions by Seong Hwan Ji (57th) and Seong Jung Kang (59th). Adam Sinclair capped the proceedings for India by striking in the 68th minute.

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