India’s hockey team: India, the three-time champion, defeated Japan 5-0 on Friday at Chennai’s Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium to advance directly to the 2023 Asian Champions Trophy final. India, who has yet to lose in the competition, will square off against Malaysia in the summit match on August 12.
India and Japan fought in a thrilling semifinal encounter that featured some highly great plays and thrilling strategies from both teams. India quickly outclassed Japan in a game that appeared to be evenly matched at first.
The game began with a tense first quarter in which every second counted and both sides struggled to establish their control on the field. An interesting development occurred in the second minute when India was awarded a penalty corner after the ball struck a Japanese player’s foot. The Indian custodian Harmanpreet appeared to have a good chance, but Yoshikawa, the Japanese custodian, quickly stopped him. Despite numerous attempts, the first period came to a 0-0 conclusion.
The second quarter began with a noticeable increase in intensity. As the Indian strikers Hardik and Sumit worked together to generate a fantastic opportunity on the right side of the circle, the momentum changed. In order to capitalise on the opportunity, Akashdeep scored the game’s opening goal in the 19th minute to give India a crucial 1-0 lead. Manpreet added an outstanding goal to his team’s scoring run to bring India’s score to 3-0. It appeared as though only one side of the field’s goalposts moved. In the crucial 39th minute of the game, Sumit scored an incredible goal to push India’s advantage against Japan to a commanding 4-0.
When Harmanpreet from the midfield delivered a long ball in the fourth quarter, the pace of the game picked up. The ball was intercepted by Shamsher, who skillfully snuck by a Japanese defender to hand it off to Karthi. In the 51st minute, Karthi beat Yoshikawa, drawing cheers from the crowd. This increased India’s lead to an astounding 5-0 on the scoreboard.
India, who are unbeaten in the tournament, will face Malaysia in the final clash on August 12.
Also read: India defeats Pakistan 4-0 to win the group stage and take first place
