India made light work of China in their last Super Four clash as they defeated them 7-0 on Saturday. India have now set a meeting with Hockey Asia Cup defending champions South Korea. Meanwhile, coach Craig Fulton has stated that the team is in good place.
After thrashing China in their final Super Four match at the Hockey Asia Cup 2025, India coach Craig Fulton stated that the Indian players are in a good place ahead of the final against the defending champions South Korea.
India thrashed the Chinese 7-0 in a one-sided clash at the Rajgir Hockey Stadium as they unleashed their best to clinch their second game in the Super Four and move into the final. They had earlier beaten Malaysia 4-1.
“Always the hardest thing in sport is back-to-back matches. We have to repeat our performance. But at the same time, the guys are in a good place, they are playing well and they are playing for each other which is more important than anything else,” Fulton said after the match.
“The hardest part was getting here and now need to just play the match and not the occasion, but you need to think about tomorrow. You need to be clinical.”
“It’s super important to stay humble, stay grounded and that’s the no.1 thing.”
India turned to a different plan against China, who were playing pretty defensively in their half. The hosts used the aerial ball to break down their defence. “It was all relevant to what China did.
They played really deep, really low and they don’t want to really press, so we have to come up with another plan and that’s was the plan (ariel balls),” Fulton said.
India had managed some close wins before their Super Four clash against Malaysia, barring the not-much-counted 15-0 win over minnows Kazakhstan. They have now converted their chances into goals in the last two matches.
“I said before we were playing well but we were just not able to convert. We took a step with the Malaysia game and took another step tonight. We are defending well.
“That’s the way (penalty corners) they (China) score goals and also the way they get them as well outside the D. So it’s really good to see we being disciplined not to give anything,” Fulton said.
The coach, however, warned the players to not take the defending champions lightly in the final. “We just got to play the game not the occasion. The same process and approach what we have been doing, getting better and better in certain areas.
“It’s a final so no disrespect to any team. We got to deliver and we are focussed on doing that,” he concluded.