Asia Cup-Hockey 2017: India thump Japan 5-1

Dhaka: Indian Men's Hockey Team started-off their Asia Cup 2017 campaign with a 5-1 win over Japan here at the Maulana Bhashani National Stadium yesterday. S.V. Sunil (3'), Lalit Upadhyay (22'), Ramandeep Singh (33'), Harmanpreet Singh (35', 48') were the goal-scorers for India as they emerged victorious. The Indian team started the match with an early goal in the third minute, which came on the counter as Akashdeep Singh played a forward pass to S.V. Sunil, who then got behind the goalkeeper to score. However, Japan were quick to equalise as they won the ball at the half-line, and scored through Kenji Kitazato in the fourth minute to make it 1-1. Both the teams looked threatening in the second quarter as they looked to get the lead in the match. India's counter attacking was again sublime in the 22nd minute as forward Lalit Upadhyay brought down a long ball, made a turn and shot at the Japanese goal to give the lead to Asia's number one ranked team. The third quarter also went India's way as they scored just two minutes after the resumption of play when Ramandeep Singh made a fierceful strike from the right flank to score India's third goal of the day in the 33rd minute. The Indian team then won a penalty corner in the 35th minute which was well converted  by drag-flicker Harmanpreet Singh to make it 4-1 in India's favour. India did not let Japan make a comeback into the game and kept the possession to end the third quarter with the same score-line. Fourth quarter was all about keeping shape and possession for the Indian team but they did not stop attacking the Japanese defence as they won a penalty corner in the 48th minute. It was Harmanpreet Singh who scored his second goal of the match to make it 5-1 in India's favour. The Indian team held onto the score-line as they kept out Japan's late efforts to pull a goal back.