Asian Champions Trophy: India routs Asian champions Japan 9-0 for third win
Asian Champions Trophy: India routs Asian champions Japan 9-0 for third win Defending champion India continued its scoring spree as it routed Asian Games champion Japan 9-0 for its third win in the Asian Champions Trophy Hockey Tournament in Muscat on Sunday. The win was perhaps continuation of the Asian Games encounter between the two nations where India had won 8-0. It was Japan's second defeat in three games as they had lost to Malaysia 1-3 in its opening game. Yesterday Japan beat Korea 2-0 for its first win. It was India's 18th win in 22 encounters between the two nations. Only time Japan had beaten India was in the 2013 Asian Champions Trophy when it won 2-1. The remaining three games had ended in draws. Also read: 18th Asian Games: Japan, Malaysia Create History, to Play for Men's Hockey Gold Today's game looked as if the Indian blitzkrieg that hit Japan in Jakarta Asian Games continued unabated till today as the defending champions scored a brace each in each of the four quarters with the exception of the third where it scored three for a total of nine goals. In the opener, India had beaten the hosts, Oman, 11-0. Yesterday, India overpowered Pakistan 3-1. Akashdeep Singh who was adjudged the man of the match today scored fifth goal fr his team besides paving way for Lalit and Mandeep Singh to score three others. India also drew the consolation of scoring goals through penalty corners, both direct and indirect with Harmanpreet Singh scoring from a direct shot in the 21st minute after having scored his first goal of the match with a brilliant penalty stroke flick in the 17th minute. It was Akashdeep whose brilliant centre saw Lalit hitting India's first goal in the 4th minute while Gurjant made full use of a penalty corner flick rebound to hot home India's second goal in the 8th minute. With a comfortable 2-0 lead in the first quarter, India consolidated its hold over the game with goals with a brace by Harmanpreet Singh in the second quarter. India was in full flow in the third quarter when Akashdeep scored a brilliant goal in the 36th minute followed by goals by fine deflection by Sumit off Kothajit in the 41st minute and Lalit chipping in with yet another opportunist goal in the 45th minute. A brace by Mandeep Singh in the last quarter gave India a flattering 9-0 win besides helping it retain number one position on the table with maximum of nine points from three games with 23 goals for and only one against. -PTC NEWS
