Dhaka, Dec 19: Defending champions India crushed Japan 6-0 to remain unbeaten in the round-robin stage of the Asian Champions Trophy men’s hockey tournament here on Sunday.
Harmanpreet Singh (10th and 53rd minute) scored a brace, while Dilpreet Singh (23rd), Jaramnpreet Singh (34th), Sumit (46th) and Shamsher Singh (54th) also got their names on the scoresheet, at the Maulana Bhasani Hockey Stadium.
India, who have already sealed a semifinal berth, ended the round-robin stage of the five-nation tournament at the top of the standings with 10 points, ahead of Korea (6), Japan (5), Pakistan (5) and hosts Bangladesh (0).
This was India’s third win on the trot. India will, once again, lock horns with Japan in the semifinal on Tuesday.
India dominated the first half. They earned two back-to-back penalty corners within the first six minutes of the the first quarter but were unable to convert either.
India kept attacking and received another PC, this time Hardik Singh injecting the ball to perfection for Harmanpreet to flick it home and give the holders a 1-0 lead.
In the 23rd minute, the trio of Mandeep Singh, Shilanand Lakra and Dilpreet combined well as Dilpreet doubled India’s lead.
Japan began the second half on the offensive but it was India who scored their third goal courtesy Jaramanpreet’s clean strike.
India inflicted further pain on Japan as Sumit scored in the first minute of the final quarter.
Harmanpreet then made it 5-0 by smashing the ball in the top right corner of the goalpost. Two minutes later – juniors Shamsher and Shilanand – combined beautifully as the former scored India’s sixth goal.
Such was India’s dominance that they defended all five penalty corners awarded to their opponents. (PTI)
