The Asiad gold medalists had no time to make a comeback after the in-form Indian hockey players made sure to not miss any opportunity of scoring goals at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat.
The First Quarter
India started early with a goal as Lalit Kumar with the help of center forward Akashdeep scored India’s first goal in the 4th minute itself. The second goal came in through Gujrant when India got a penalty corner.
India led the first quarter with 2-0, already putting Japan in pressure.
The Second Quarter
Indian defender Harmanpreet made no mistakes, scoring a goal as India received their 2nd penalty corner. Within a few minutes, Harmanpreet scored another goal and led India to 4-0 right before the halftime.
The Third Quarter
The third quarter started with a series of goals scored by the Indians. First Akashdeep, then the third hockey Olympian, Kothajit shot an impressive goal from a considerable distance.
Finally, India ended the 3rd quarter a goal! The scoreline was 7-0 after the third quarter finished.
The Fourth Quarter
Mandeep scored the 8th goal for India. Japan couldn’t even open their score count as in the 56th minute, Mandeep scored another goal.
The final score 9-0 was all we hockey fans wanted. Akashdeep was awarded the man of the match for scoring his 2 goals. India led by Manpreet Singh proved themselves and made a sort of rebound after losing the gold medal at the Asian Games 2018.
India against Pakistan
Indian hockey team defeated Pakistan with 3-1 on Saturday at the Asian Champions Trophy held in Muscat. Pakistan who is currently ranked world no 13 started off strong with a goal in the first quarter, creating an obvious pressure over Indians.
However, this proved to be a wake-up call for the world no. 5 team and Manpreet Singh leveled the scored in the 24th minute. Later on, Mandeep Singh and Dilpreet Singh score a goal each and took India to 3-1 on the scoreboard. Resulting in the victory for the Indian Hockey team.
This is India’s 3rd consecutive win after defeating Oman and Pakistan in previous matches of the tournament.
