MUSCAT, October 21: Six Indian players made entries on the scoresheet as title holders India outplayed Japan 9-0 in the Hero Asian Champions Trophy Muscat 2018 at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex here on Sunday.
Strikers Lalit Upadhyay and Mandeep Singh scored two goals each, while drag-flicker Harmanpreet Singh converted a penalty stroke and a penalty corner to lead the Indian challenge.
Upadhyay opened the Indian scoring in the fourth minute with a diving deflection and again got into goal-scoring action in the 45th minute for his double, while Harmanpreet converted a penalty stroke in the 17th minute and then sounded the boards with a low penalty corner shot in the 21st.
As Japan’s defense was swept away by the Indian raids, Mandeep Singh capitalized on two openings in the last quarter – in the 49th and 57th minutes.
Japan’s goalkeeper Takashi Yoshikawa was injured in the eighth minute when he blocked Harmanpreet’s penalty corner shot, only for the ball to rebound to Gurjant, who picked flicked it in. Thereafter, reserve Yusuke Takano had to bear the thrust of the Indian attack.
Boosting the Indian challenge was a goal each from Akashdeep Singh (36th) and Sumit (42nd).
With their third successive victory, India leads the six-team event’s league standings with a maximum nine points from three outings, followed by Malaysia on six points from two games.
Pakistan has three points from two matches, while Japan is on three points in three games. South Korea and Oman have lost both their matches.
Indian coach Harendra Singh was pleased by his team who had executed the game-plan. “The way we played was good. We played to a plan and did not allow Japan’s team to play in a certain manner,” said Harendra.
Japan’s coach Siegfried Aikman said India was too strong to be contained in this contest. “We tried our level best, but they were very strong today. We were below the level as India sparkled with their speed, agility and hard-press game,” said Aikman.
