Indian captain Harmanpreet Singh scoring his second goal.
| Photo Credit: R.V. MOORTHY
Another day, another narrow win for the Indian men’s hockey team in the Asia Cup here, this time 3-2 against Japan. Sunday’s performance, barring the result, was as far from India’s previous outing as possible and yet, there were a lot of the same concerns as before even as the host assured itself of a spot in the Super 4s.
It was a game of two halves, India all over the opposition in the first and scrambling to stay ahead in the second. The defence remains a concern, conceding nine penalty corners and a tad slow in getting into positions, as does the lack of sharpness and accuracy of the attack.
The start was brisk and the Indian strikers busy, coming close to score twice in as many opening minutes, before Mandeep Singh put one past the Japanese goalkeeper in the fourth minute, turning and tumbling as he shot past a couple of defenders. A minute later, four back-to-back PCs finally resulted in Harmanpreet Singh’s scorching grounder to make it 2-0. Barring two PCs in the 13th minute, the game was largely restricted to the Japanese half. The Indian defence was stationed at the half line with the rest of the players prowling in search of another goal.
The second quarter was more of the same. A long Japanese shot bisecting the circle missed the goal by inches. Dilpreet and Abhishek continued to miss scoring chances. Four consecutive PCs to Japan were saved by goalkeeper Suraj Karkera and finally cleared by a diving Vivek.
Post break, however, Japan upped the pressure and saw Kosei Kawabe slamming in from the top of the circle past both Krishan Pathak and Jugraj Singh to reduce the margin in the 37th minute.
India, meanwhile, continued to be erratic. Seconds before the end of the third quarter, India got the last of its six PCs and Harmanpreet struck. But Abhishek and Sukhjeet continued to miss their chances and in the 59th minute, Kawabe made it 3-2 but there wasn’t enough time for Japan to find an equaliser.
China won 13-1 in the other Pool-A game, the huge scoreline also helping it gain the edge ahead of its final group match against Japan on Monday. The Chinese need only a draw to progress by virtue of better goal difference with the teams tied on points.
The results: Pool-A: India 3 (Mandeep Singh 4, Harmanpreet Singh 5, 45) bt Japan 2 (Kosei Kawabe 38, 59); China 13 (Shihao Du 10, 53, Qijun Chen 13, Changliang Lin 15, 39, Benhai Chen 29, 56, Yuanlin Lu 31, 42, 44, Jiesheng Gao 33, Xiaolong Guo 41, 58) bt Kazakhstan 1 (Agymtay Duisengazy 2).
Published – August 31, 2025 07:14 pm IST
