South Korea, who secured the title for the first time in 2021, were aiming to book themselves in back-to-back finals but went sent crashing to a 6-2 defeat at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium in the Indian city.

Ji Woo-cheon gave South Korea the lead with a goal inside the first two minutes only for Azrai Abu Kamal to cancel that out moments later.

This was then followed by four goals in the space of 12 minutes that put Malaysia firmly in control.

Jazlan Najmi scored the first of those before South Korea levelled through Jang Jong-hyun.

Saari Faizal got on the scoresheet at the start of the second period before Najmi grabbed his second to give Malaysia a 4-2 advantage.

After drawing a blank in the third period, Malaysia finished things off with a quickfire double from Silverius Shello.

Malaysia had never previously got beyond the semi-finals having finished third on five occasion but are now just one victory away from the title.

They will now come up against two-time champions India who crushed the 2021 runners-up Japan 5-0.

Akashdeep Singh broke the deadlock on 19 minutes before Harmanpreet Singh and Mandeep Singh netted to give India a 3-0 lead at half-time.

Sumit added a fourth in the third period before Selvam Karthi completed the rout with a goal on 51 minutes.

Competition is due to conclude tomorrow with South Korea and Japan going head-to-head in the third-place playoff before Malaysia and India meet in the final.