A visibly better controlled Team India beat defending champions Korea 3-2 to consolidate their position atop the Asian Champions Trophy table and confirmed their semi-final berth here on Monday. The Indians seemed to be playing at a slow pace, without their trademark free-flowing overlapping runs. But even that proved to be good enough to beat the Koreans, who looked jaded, probably due to the energy-sapping weather conditions here.

The hosts went ahead in the sixth minute when Sukhjeet Singh picked up a pass from Sumit inside the opposition box, dodged past Korean defender Cheon Woo Ji and relayed a simple pass to Nilakanta Sharma, who pushed the ball home in one sweet action. The Koreans, meanwhile, continued to fight back and were almost immediately rewarded for their persistence. Three minutes from the end of the first quarter, Manjae Jung found teammate Sunghyun Kim inside the Indian striking circle and his swift turn and shot, though a feeble one, was good enough to beat India custodian Krishan Pathak.