Korea beat Malaysia 2-1 to win 2022 Hockey Asia Cup

The Korean national hockey team celebrate after beating Malaysia to win the 2022 Hockey Asia Cup in Jakarta on Wednesday. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

The Korean national hockey team defeated Malaysia 2-1 in the final of the 2022 Hockey Asia Cup in Jakarta on Wednesday to win the gold medal at the continental tournament.

After a scoreless first period, Jung Man-jae opened the scoring for Korea in the 17th minute. Malaysia's Syed Cholan bagged an equalizer just seven minutes, putting the score at 1-1 at the halfway mark. The third period was also scoreless, before Hwang Tae-il put Korea ahead again in the 52nd minute to finish the game at 2-1.

Wednesday's game was the third between Korea and Malaysia, after they were both drawn in Pool B during the group stage of the tournament.

During the group stage, Korea beat Bangladesh 6-1 and Oman 5-1, but lost a closely fought game against Malaysia 5-4. That left Korea in second place behind Malaysia, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the second round.

The four advancing teams — Korea, Malaysia, India and Japan — then played another round robin to determine the two teams that reached the final.

Korea and Malaysia played each other to a 2-2 draw in the opening game of the second round on May 28, before Korea went on to beat Japan 3-1 and draw with India 4-4. Malaysia drew 3-3 with India and beat Japan 5-0, putting the two teams at the top of the round robin ranking to earn a spot in the final.

The victory cements Korea's position as the winningest team at the Hockey Asia Cup with five titles: 1994, 1999, 2009, 2013 and 2022. Pakistan and India are both tied in second place with three wins each, with Pakistan having won the three inaugural tournaments from 1982 to 1989 and India winning in 2003, 2007 and 2017.

On Wednesday, India beat Japan 1-0 in the bronze medal match to complete the podium.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]