Men's Hockey Asia Cup: Shilanand Lakra, Craig Fulton hail complete performance against China

India defeated China in a one-sided contest to register a splendid victory in the last Super 4s game. of the 2025 Men's Hockey Asia Cup on Saturday.

Just like in the group stage, India finished on top of the Super 4s table and advanced to the final, where they will face the defending champions, Korea.

India started strongly with Shilanand Lakra, scoring as early as the fourth minute to open the flood gates. Just three minutes later, Dilpreet Singh pounced on a penalty corner rebound.

Mandeep Singh also found himself in the score sheet in the 18th minute as he tapped in a penalty corner rebound.

In the 37th minute, Raj Kumar Pal found the net after a setup from Lakra and a touch by Dilpreet.

Just two minutes later, Sukhjeet scored again .In the final quarter, Abhishek Nain struck twice in the 46th and 50th minutes, sealing a commanding 7-0 win against a hapless China.

"We showed great teamwork today by playing with a clear strategy," Abhishek, who scored a brace said after the match. "I think the defense played very well.

"The way they distributed the passes was perfect. Our natural game was on display today," he added.

Shilanand: The emerging powerhouse of Indian Attack

Shilanand Lakra was the star of the show for India with a goal and two assists in the match. Speaking to The Bridge, he credited his teammates saying the whole team played well and gave him the support he needed to perform and help the team secure this victory.

"I'm very happy with the win. My teammates gave me great support, and this victory belongs to the whole team," he said.

"The strikers played with good coordination and we’ll try to keep the same teamwork in the next match," Lakra added.

The 26-year-old recently returned to the Indian team after a career threatening ACL injury.

He also scored against Malaysia in the previous game. With goals in back-to-back matches, Lakra looks fully recovered and is getting back into his rhythm.

"The body is fine now, absolutely fit," he said.

"Our effort in the final will be to remain mentally strong and focus on ourselves," Lakra further added.

Mandeep Twists Ankle

Another goal scorer, Mandeep Singh, suffered an ankle injury during the match. However, he confirmed that it is not that serious and he will be seen playing in the final on Sunday.

"It's just a twisted ankle, I will be fine. Tomorrow I have to play for my country anyway, it's our last match," he said.

"We will try to improve our structure in the final against Korea. We have faith in this formation. Today we played as a team and scored goals; it feels really good. We worked on this, and today we got the result," the veteran added.

"It Was a Perfect Performance"

An elated Craig Fulton, termed India's outing on the field "a perfect performance."

"We played well tonight and are happy about it. We had six different scorers tonight, so it was a perfect team performance, and I am super happy about that," said Fulton.

The men in blue will now take on defending champions South Korea, who beat Malaysia 4-3 in the other match on Saturday, in the final. The two teams had earlier played out a 2-2 draw in the Super 4s on Wednesday.

With the massive crowd support in Rajgir, Team India will chase its fourth Men’s Hockey Asia Cup title in the final.

"Last time (against Korea) we played well but could not finish, but I think tonight we took a nice step in the right direction," concluded Fulton.