19 May 2004	Wednesday	28 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

GIFU, May 18: Yi Chong-Son scored a hat trick to lead South Korea to a 6-1 thrashing of India to win the men's title at the four-nation Prince Takamado Cup field hockey tournament on Tuesday.

Japan's skipper Keiko Miura fired a sizzling shot in the 16th minute with Tomomi Komori hitting home a game-deciding goal in the 62nd to beat China 2-1 in the women's final.

Yi opened the scoring in the 16th minute with a pushing-up shot off a penalty corner and then made it 2-0 only one minute later to give the Koreans the momentum. And it was the Koreans who added a goal when Hwang Chong-Hyon hit a reverse shot on a rebound in the 25th minute.

India counter-attacked to create a chance, allowing Michael Sandeep to strike home in the 28th minute to end the first half, but it was the only goal the Indian team scored.

After Yi added another in the 40th, India missed two goals as Jatinderpal Singh's shot hit the left post, while Vivek Guata's shot from a Sandeep pass was stopped by goalkeeper Ko Tong-Sik.

Ko kept two more Indian shots out by Sandeep Singh and Inderjeet Singh, before So Chong-Ho and Yu Ko-Sik scored insurance goals for South Korea in the 57th and 59th minutes respectively.

In the women's final, the Japanese women were strong in defence from the start, with Yukari Yamamoto defending Gao Lihua's shot and keeper Rie Terazono hitting back with her stick to save Tang Chunling's shot.

After prolonged Japanese pressure in the beginning of the second half, the Chinese seemed to gain control the game, but again Terazono saved a lightning Tang shot in the 54th minute.

It was too late for the Chinese to come back when Tang finally struck home a reverse shot in the 66th minute. In the third-place playoffs, Japan defeated China 3-1 in the men's and South Korea defeated India 4-0 in the women's competition. -AFP