South Korea surprised Hong Kong to qualify for Tokyo 2020 at the Asian Olympic qualifier in Incheon ©Asia Rugby

South Korea booked their place in the Tokyo 2020 men’s rugby sevens tournament by beating favourites Hong Kong in the Asian Olympic qualifier in Incheon.

The hosts headed into the qualifier as fourth seeds and impressively topped their group yesterday at the Namdong Asiad Stadium.

South Korea began the second day of competition with a comfortable 32-7 win over Malaysia, before beating tournament second seeds China 12-7 in the last four.

The result set up a final against Hong Kong, with the match determining which team would advance directly to the Olympic Games.

The two teams met at the semi-final stage of the Rio 2016 qualifier with Hong Kong emerging as the winners, before losing in the final to Japan.

Japan did not compete in this year's tournament as they qualified automatically for Tokyo 2020 as hosts. 

Hong Kong had beaten Afghanistan 38-0 in their quarter-final, before a 26-0 triumph against the Philippines to reach the final.

The Hong Kong team had not conceded a point in their four matches at the tournament, but their run was ended by South Korea.

The teams tied 7-7 in normal time, which saw the match head into a sudden death extra-time period.

Seong-min Jang proved the hero for South Korea as he broke away to score the decisive try, which gave his team a 12-7 victory.

South Korea will make their rugby sevens debuts at Tokyo 2020.

The qualification will serve as a breakthrough for the South Korean team, who have finished as bronze medallists at the last three Asian Games.

South Korea have previously competed at four Rugby Sevens World Cups, but have failed to qualify for the past three editions.

They will join Japan, Fiji, United States, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina, Canada, Britain, Australia and Kenya at Tokyo 2020.

Hong Kong are now compete in the last Olympic qualifier in June, where the final spot will be determined.

The Hong Kong team will be joined by China, who finished as the third placed team at the Asian qualifier.

China beat the Philippines 19-14 to keep their hopes of Olympic qualification alive.

Brazil and Chile are South American representatives at the qualifier, with Jamaica and Mexico also due to compete.

France and Ireland are European representatives, while Samoa and Tonga are the Oceania hopefuls.

Uganda and Zimbabwe reached the event thought the African Men’s Sevens tournament.