South Korea survive Japan scare

Jeong Jin-Ok scored the equaliser midway through the second half as South Korea salvaged a face-saving 2-2 draw against Japan in the Asian Games women's field hockey here on Sunday.
In other matches, India rode on a hat-trick by captain Jyoti Kullu to blank Taiwan 7-0 and Malaysia defeated Hong Kong 3-1.
Japan, who surprised themselves by finishing fifth at the World Cup in Spain in September, showed why they should not be taken lightly with a fighting display against the fancied Koreans.
Kieko Miura used her penalty corner expertise to given Japan a 2-0 lead, slamming in the first goal in the 19th minute and the second in the 28th.
The Koreans narrowed the margin two minutes before half-time when Lee Jin-Hee deflected in a pass from the right by Kim Mi-Seon.
South Korea, hoping to regain the Asian Games title they lost to China at home in Busan four years ago, dominated the second-half and were rewarded with Jeong's equaliser in the 53rd minute.
Japanese goalkeeper Ikuko Okamura denied the Koreans the winner by saving at least six shots in the last 10 minutes of play.
Both teams have a win and draw from two matches in the seven-nation round-robin league that also features China, India, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei.
The top four teams will qualify for the semi-finals.
"I am not satisfied at all with the result," said Korean saviour Jeong. "We should have won this match and I regret that we had to draw.
"The strong wind made it difficult to play good hockey. But we should have won."
Japanese manager Masashi Onda said "the Korean spirit was hard to break" in the second half.
"When you lead 2-0 you want to win, but the team is satisfied that they did not lose to Korea. We are a very confident team now."
India, restricted to just one goal in the first-half, launched an offensive in the second to score six more against the inexperienced Taiwanese girls.
Kullu celebrated her role as India's flag-bearer at Friday's opening ceremony with three goals while Surinder Kaur netted two.
"It was just the start we needed, hopefully this is the beginning of a successful campaign," said Indian coach Maharaj Kaushik, whose team won the Commonwealth Games gold medal in Manchester in 2002.