India Rebounds with Dominating Victory Over Malaysia After Korea Draw in Asia Cup Hockey

India bounced back from a disappointing draw against Korea to beat Malaysia 4-1 and move to the top of the standings in the Super 4s of the 2025 Men's Hockey Asia Cup.

The pressure seemed to be mounting on India at the start, as Shafiq Hassan gave Malaysia the lead in the opening minute, with a fierce reverse strike from inside the circle, where he was afforded plenty of space, following a defensive breakdown for India.

Throughout the first quarter, India's attacking play was blunt, they didn't really manage to test the Malaysian goalkeeper. When they got into the circle, they made bad decisions, and couldn't quite make those moves stick.

In the first minute of the second quarter, India won five back-to-back penalty corners, and four were thwarted. The fifth saw Harmanpreet Singh's shot saved after which Manpreet Singh pounced on the chance and made it 1-1. The momentum was now with India, and a couple of minutes later. Sukhjeet Singh made it 2-1 to the hosts, after good work from Shilanand Lakra.

With the halfway mark of the game around the corner, Dilpreet Singh picked up the ball in the middle of the park and drove it in towards Shilanand, who deflected it past the goal keeper to make it 3-1.

Midway through the third quarter, Manpreet set up a goal on a plate for Vivek Sagar Prasad, who promptly made it 4-1. From then on, India sat back a touch, and allowed Malaysia more ball possession, but the visitors didn't really hurt Craig Fulton's team too much, as they ensured they didn't concede any more goals.

You can re-live the match, as it happened, on our live blog below.