New Delhi | The defending champions India lost to Japan 3-5 in the semifinals of the Asian Champions Trophy men’s hockey tournament on Tuesday.
With this dominant victory, Japan set a final date with South Korea who edged past Pakistan 6-5 in another thrilling semifinal tie.
Japan started off with a flurry of attacks since the very first minute as Shota Yamada netted the first goal which was followed by Raiki Fujishima's second minute. However, India made a comeback with Dilpreet Singh scoring the first goal for India in the second minute of the second quarter. But Japan chipped in again with a penalty corner in the 14th minute to leave the scoreboard 3-1.
Japan went on to extend their lead to 4-1 with the help of Kosei Kawabe's gem. And from then Japan never looked back as Tanaka played an unselfish pass and Ooka passed it into the net to pile the lead to 5-1. Harmanpret Singh although scored to make it 5-2 for India in the eighth minute of third quarter but it was already too late. Later, Hardik Singh converted the penalty corner to make it 5-3 but to only see their side going down.
Manpreet Singh-led side started as the favourite, having crushed Japan 6-0 in the previous round-robin match. India ended the round-robin stage of the five-nation tournament at the top of the standings with 10 points but their campaign in the Asian Champions Trophy came to a screeching halt.
However India still pin their medal hope in the tournament as they take on Pakistan for the bronze on Wednesday (December 22).
