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Despite a hat-trick from captain Harmanpreet Singh, the Indian men's hockey team delivered a far from convincing performance in their Asia Cup opener on Friday, securing a narrow 4-3 victory over a lower-ranked China. While Harmanpreet found the net in the 20th, 33rd, and 47th minutes from penalty corners, his mixed performance also included a missed penalty stroke. Jugraj Singh scored India's other goal in the 18th minute. The hosts were often on the back foot and allowed China to stay in the contest, with goals from Shihao Du, Benhal Chen, and Jiesheng Gao keeping the result in doubt until the end.
A significant area of concern for India was their inefficiency in attack, particularly from set pieces. The team squandered numerous opportunities throughout the match, successfully converting just four of their eleven penalty corners. This lack of clinical finishing was a defining feature of their play and prevented them from establishing the dominance expected against their opponents.
The match began with India on the offensive, creating several early chances that were consistently thwarted by the impressive Chinese goalkeeper, Weihao Yang. An early goal from Mandeep Singh was also disallowed following a video referral. Despite India's initial pressure, it was China who broke the deadlock against the run of play, with Shihao Du converting their first penalty corner in the 12th minute to take a surprise lead at the end of the first quarter.
India responded with greater urgency in the second quarter, finally restoring parity three minutes in when Jugraj Singh executed a perfect penalty corner conversion. Two minutes later, Harmanpreet Singh gave India the lead for the first time with a powerful dragflick from another set piece. However, the period was also marked by wasted chances from both sides, as India failed to convert another penalty corner while China also sent one wide, underscoring the scrappy nature of the contest.
During a match that saw a flurry of penalty corners, India and China were locked in a tight contest. Just before halftime, India was awarded a penalty corner, but Harmanpreet Singh's flick was expertly saved by a diving Weihao, who kept the scoreline in check.
India came out strong in the third quarter, and three minutes in, Harmanpreet converted another penalty corner, extending India's lead. China, however, quickly responded with a penalty corner of their own, and Benhai Chen's flick slipped through the legs of India's goalkeeper, Krishan Bahadur Pathak, to pull a goal back. India had a chance to regain their two-goal lead when Mandeep earned a penalty stroke, but Harmanpreet hit the post. This miss proved costly as China's Jiesheng Gao scored from a penalty corner just two minutes later, once again beating Pathak and leveling the score at 3-3.
In the final quarter, India was awarded three consecutive penalty corners, and Harmanpreet successfully converted the last one to give India the lead. While India earned another penalty corner with three minutes remaining, they were unable to score.
Meanwhile, Japan dominated Kazakhstan in their opening match, winning 7-0. Koji Yamasaki scored twice for Japan, while Kosei Kawabe, Naru Kimura, Ken Nagayoshi, Shota Yamada, and Ryosuke Shinohara each contributed a goal.
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