South Korea ended Canada’s journey in the 30th edition of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup with a 4-1 victory to finish in fifth place in Ipoh today.
Three-time champions Korea went into the match with a record of nine consecutive victories over the Canadians since the 1988 Olympics Games.
Goals from Kong Yoonho (15th), Lim Dohyun (16th), and Seo Inwoo (17th) rattled the Canadians early in the match, while Jung Hyunho (PC) converted a 24th minute penalty corner to push the Korean into a comfortable 4-0 lead going into the first half interval.
Harbir Sidhu converted a penalty corner for Canada in the 50th minute – his second in the tournament, as the score stood at 4-1 in the fourth and last quarter.
SOUTH KOREA: MIN TAESEOK (COACH)
“Firstly, I would like to thank Perak HA and MHC for inviting us once again to this tournament.
Today the players played well with early goals. I am satisfied with the performance.
We will now prepare our training programme for the Nations Cup in Poland. There will be some changes to the team as our target is the Asian Games in 2026. Korea have many youngsters and we will rotate the players.
As for drag-flick specialist Jang Jung-Hyun, he will not be part of the national team due to his age (42) and also, he is nursing knee injury.”
CANADA: PATRICK TSHUTSHANI (COACH)
“There was a flat energy from the players in this game. Perhaps the hot weather took a toll on the players. It also took us a long time to get into the momentum and were already 4-0 down.
This tournament was a good for the players. They learned a lot and after this we will be playing with the same teams such as Malaysia and Pakistan in the Nations Cup group stage in Poland.”
