Muscat, October 22: There is no stopping for these Indian men’s hockey team as they continued their impressive run with a commanding 9-0 win over Japan to register their 3rd successive win of the Asian Champions Trophy, played at Musca. It was a dominating performance by the Indians who outplayed their opponents with attacking play.
The first quarter saw some brilliant hockey from the Indian team. In the 4th minute, a great reverse flick by Akashdeep Singh to Lalit Upadhyay gave India a 1-0 lead. India earned a penalty corner in the 8th minute and a brilliant shot drag flick by Harmanpreet Singh and rebound shot by Gurjant Singh gave India a 2-0 lead. At the end of the first quarter, India led 2-0.
India got off to a perfect start in the second quarter, earning a penalty corner. The Indians hit a shot and the umpire gave it a penalty stroke. Harmanpreet Singh scored the stroke in 17th minute to give India a 3-0 lead. India continued to attack the Japanese defence. In the 21st minute, Harmanpreet Singh's penalty corner shot gave India a commanding 4-0 lead.
In the third quarter also, the Indians continued their dominating performance. In the 36th minute, a brilliant field goal by Akashdeep Singh gave India a 5-0 lead. The Indians showed their aggressive skills and continued to put pressure on the Japanese defence. Kothajit Singh scored a brilliant field goal in the 42nd minute to give India a 6-0 lead. With the Indian team having 10 men, before the final bell, Lalit scored a brilliant field goal. At the end of the third quarter, India led 7-0.
The fourth quarter saw another solid performance by the Indian team. India earned their 5th penalty corner and a rebound shot hit by Mandeep Singh gave India an 8-0 lead. Japan earned their first penalty corner but could not do anything with that. In the 57th minute, a wonderful shot by Jarmanpreet Singh to Manpreet Singh, who gave it to Mandeep Singh, gave India a 9-0 scoreline. India won the match by a massive margin of 9-0.
With this win, India registered their third successive win of the tournament. They will take on Malaysia in their next match on 23rd October.