India kept alive their chances of making it to the semi-finals of the men's hockey competition at the Asian Games after trouncing Oman 9-0 in a Pool B match on Friday.

The victory was India's second in three matches, after the surprise 2-3 loss to China, and swelled their points tally to six.

They need to beat Korea, who top the group with nine points from three matches, in their concluding group fixture on Sunday to pip China, who also have nine points from four matches, make the grade.

Earlier in the day Korea beat China 3-0 to make sure of a place in the last four.

If India beats Korea they too will have nine points, the same as Korea and China but they can displace the Chinese by virtue of a better goal difference. India's goal difference is +14 while China's is +6. The Koreans have a difference of +21.

As the score line suggests, it was a one-sided match, with minnows Oman unable to make any impression on the Indian defence.

Shivendra Singh (11th, 40th, 60th minutes) scored three goals, Hari Prasad (28th and 47th) and Tushar Khandekar (44th and 55th) two each and skipper Dilip Tirkey (34th) and Arjun Halappa (62nd) one each in the match played under continuous rain.

Five of the goals came off indirect penalty-corner conversions.