A first-half hat-trick by Lee Jung Seon swept Korea to a resounding 4-1 victory over Malaysia on Friday and set them up for a bronze medal clash with Germany in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament, at the National Stadium, in Kuala Lumpur.
Korea, whose other goal was scored by Ji Seung Hwan (39th), finished with 10 points, the same as Germany, while Malaysia, with three points, were left to battle it out with Spain for 5-6 positions on Sunday after a day's rest on Saturday.
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The Koreans were simply devastating with their speed and precision shooting. So much so that the Malaysians were clueless and were even booed by a section of the crowd. The lone Malaysian goal came in the final minute through Kuhan Shanmuganathan's penalty-corner conversion.
After taking time to warm-up, the Koreans struck suddenly from a lightning right-wing move that put Seon in possession inside the circle. He dummied the goalkeeper and then casually tapped the ball into the empty goal.
Seon was in the thick of action soon after as he scored twice in as many minutes. He rammed home a Song Seung Tae pass and almost immediately converted a penalty-corner to complete his hat-trick.
On change of ends, the Malaysians received no respite. Hwan converted a 39th minute penalty-corner. The Koreans then literally toyed with the Malaysians, who, reduced to nervous wrecks with the crowd barracking every mistake of theirs, barely entered the rival circle.
Seconds from the final hooter, Kuhan converted a penalty-corner to bring some cheer to Malaysia.
