India notch up their first win of the Hockey Asia Cup 2017. The Indians have put up a supreme display today, completely running through the Japanese defence. While the first half between the two sides was a bit close, Japan completely lost the plot in quarter 3, and India ran through their defence.
India missed a number of chances but still managed to beat Japan 5-1 in their first match of Pool A at the 10th men’s hockey Asia Cup in Dhaka on Wednesday.
SV Sunil (3rd minute), Lalit Upadhyay (22’), Ramandeep Singh (33’) and Harmanpreet Singh (35’, 48’) found the target for India, who started the match with aggressive intent.
SV Sunil opened the scoring for India as early as the 3rd minute. However, Kenji Kitazato equalised for Japan in the very next minute.
The teams went into half-time with India leading 2-1.
Both the teams were neck to neck in the second quarter, trying to take the lead in the match. India’s counter attacking was sublime, and, in the 22nd minute,Lalit Upadhyay beautifully trapped a lofted long ball, made a turn and shot at the Japanese goal to give India the lead.
The Indians will next play hosts Bangladesh in their next Pool A match on Friday.
