Jang Jong-hyun notched a hat trick of goals as South Korea thrashed defending champions the Netherlands 6-2 in Champions Trophy field hockey on Monday.
In other matches, Germany defeated Spain 4-1 for their fourth consecutive victory, Australia beat Britain 1-0, and Pakistan and Malaysia drew 2-2.
Through four rounds, Germany lead the standings with 12 points, followed by Australia on nine, and South Korea and the Netherlands on seven each.
Jang's goals in the 33rd, 61st and 64th minutes made him only the second player to score three in the Champions Trophy after Ronald Brouwer of the Netherlands did it during a 9-2 win over Pakistan last year.
South Korea, who lost to Germany 2-1 on Sunday after leading 1-0 at halftime, trailed the European champion Dutch twice but relied on superior fitness to score four times in the last nine minutes to record their best ever win in the tournament and grasp a credible chance of reaching Sunday's final for the first time.
Wouter Hermkens gave the Dutch the lead after 22 minutes but it was canceled by Jang's first goal.
The Netherlands went back in front two minutes later under controversial circumstances. A Jeroen Delmee free hit from outside the scoring zone appeared to have gone straight into goal although Matthijs Brouwer claimed he had the last touch. For the first time in this tournament, the television umpire was asked to adjudicate after field umpires Amarjit Singh of Malaysia and Simon Taylor of New Zealand could not decide.
The outcome remained inconclusive but Brouwer was given the benefit of the doubt and the goal stood.
However, it did not deter South Korea and the Dutch defense crumbled in the 55th minute when Kim Sam-seok scored a field goal.
The floodgates opened when Jang scored twice, on a field goal and another penalty corner blaster. Lee Nam-yong (67th) and Kim Joung-goo (68th) completed the rout, South Korea's first defeat of the Dutch in the Champions Trophy in eight years.
The Koreans have to play Malaysia (today), Pakistan (tomorrow) and Britain (Saturday), and if they win all three then 16 points should secure them a final berth.
The Netherlands, who were undefeated and had scored 10 goals in three matches going into Monday's match, face Germany today and Australia tomorrow. The tournament leaders are also strong final contenders, as always, but Olympic champion Australia -- unconvincing against Britain with Eddie Ockenden scoring the only goal in the first half -- have three tough games ahead against Spain, the Netherlands and Germany.
The Germans raced to a 3-0 halftime lead against sluggish Spain on goals by Oliver Korn (4th), Matthias Witthaus (32nd) and Jan-Marco Montag (34th).
RSS