Hong Kong, Sep 8: Defending champions India bite the dust as they were outclassed by Korea 2-5 in the semi-final of the sixth Asia Cup Women's Hockey Championship here today.

Korea, champions in the fourth edition in New Delhi in 1999, will play Japan in the final tomorrow.

Earlier in the day, Japan rallied behind from one goal down to score a sensational 2-1 victory over favourites China in the first semi-final at the Kings Park.

For Korea, Kim Da Rae (22nd and 59th minutes) scored twice while Kim Jong Eeun (25th), Cheon Seul Ki (46th) and Seo Hye Jin (50th) chipped in one goal each.

For the losers, captain Mamta Kharab (49th and 63rd) scored both the goals.

India managed to contain the speedy Korean forwards early in the match by slowing the game down and using Mamta and Jasjeet Kaur to mount counter attack in the Korean goal.

Korea, however, gradually took control of the game after the Indians allowed them more freedom in the midfield, forcing two penalty corners in the 11th and 16th minutes that were both saved by the Indian custodian Marita Tirkey.

But the relentless Korean pressure was taking its toll on the Indians and in the 22nd minute Kim Da Rae gave her side the lead after getting the better of Indian goalkeeper.

Just three minutes later, Korea went 2-0 up after an Indian defensive mix up in the goal area allowed Kim Jong Eun to sound the board.

And after that goal, it became obvious that India had a mountain the climb to stay in the match with the pace and power of the Koreans threatening Indian citadel several times.

Eleven minutes into the second half, Korea struck again when Cheon Seul Ki scored a well taken field goal to make it 3-0 that saw India down but not quite out.

Indians went on the attack and forced a penalty corner in the 49th minute which Mamta converted to give her side their first goal of the match.

Korea, however, struck back almost immediately to go 4-1 ahead with a field goal through Seo Hye Jin to put the issue beyond doubt.

Korea went 5-1 up in the match with just 11 minutes left on the clock when Kim Da Rae converted a penalty corner.

Mamta reduced the margin with a somewhat controversial goal in the 63rd minute after deflecting a bouncing cross from outside the circle to make the final score 5-2 in favour of Korea.

India now play China for bronze medal tomorrow.

Earlier, in the upset of the tournament, Japan rallied from behind to pull off a sensational 2-1 victory over favourites China. All the three goals between the two highest ranked teams came in the first half with Tomomi Komori (22nd minute) and Toshie Tsukui (24th) scoring for the winners while Chen Zhao Xia (20th) found the target for China.

Japan surprisingly made early onslaughts on the Chinese goal through hardworking forward Sachimi Iwao whose shot on goal was saved by rival goalkeeper Zhang Yi Meng.

China, the Asian Games champions, slowly found more cohesion in their game and went ahead in the 20th minute via a penalty corner converted by Chen Zhao Xia.

But, from then on the game swung Japan's way as the underdogs tightened their defence and began relying on counter attack. And that paid dividends just two minutes later when Iwao again broke down the left and found Tomomo Komori unmarked in the China circle to beat goakeeper Zhang and level the score.

Japan kept up the pressure and in the 24th minute forced another penalty corner that Toshie Tsukui converted to give them a 2-1 lead at the interval.

Early in the second half, China's Tang Chun Ling came very close to restoring parity with a full blooded drive that was superbly saved by the Japanese keeper Ikuko Okamara.

But that was the last real threat to Japan's lead and with mistakes beginning to creep into China's game, the Japanese defended superbly in the second half to survive two late China penalty corners shortly before the final whistle and hang on to their lead to fashion the upset of the tournament.

''We concentrated on defence in the match and blocked China midfield to break up their attacks,'' an elated Japanese coach Yoo Sueng said later.

''Then we relied on counter attack to score which really worked for us,'' said the 37-year-old Korean born coach who took charge of the Japanese national side in June last year after living in Japan for 12 years.

In other classification playoffs, Malaysia blanked Chinese Taipei 3-0 and Thailand beat Hong Kong 1-0.

UNI