Younger striker Abhishek fired twice as India beat defending champions Japan 4-2 to register their third consecutive victory and take an enormous step in the direction of semi-final of the lads’s hockey competitors on the Asian Video games right here on Thursday.
Abhishek (thirteenth, forty eighth minutes) scored two area objectives, whereas Mandeep Singh (twenty fourth) and Amit Rohidas (thirty fourth) had been the opposite scorers for India.
Japan fought again within the closing 5 minutes of the fourth and closing quarter and scored two fast objectives by way of Genki Mitani (57th) and Ryosei Kato (60) to cut back the margin of defeat.
India will play arch-rivals Pakistan of their subsequent Pool A match on Saturday.
World no.3 Indian workforce dominated the proceedings for main a part of the match and managed the ball possession, whereas Japan confirmed sparks in patches.
After two simple wins, the assured Indians began brightly and secured their first penalty nook within the fifth minute however skipper Harmanpreet Singh’s flick went broad.
India conceded their first penalty nook of the match within the twelfth minute however the Japanese didn’t utilise the possibility as goalkeeper Krishan Bahadur Pathak saved Shota Yamada’s strive.
India secured one other penalty nook quickly however once more the consequence was the identical.
However an opportunistic Abhishek gave India the lead a minute later, scoring with a reverse stick after receiving an help from Hardik Singh.
India earned one other penalty nook however the Japanese defended bravely.
Seconds from the primary quarter, Lalit Upadhyay’s well timed deflection from Jarmanpreet Singh’s cross was saved by Japanese goalkeeper Takshi Yoshikawa.
India doubled their lead within the twenty fourth minute by way of Mandeep, who dived full size to deflect in Nilkanta’s cross.
After the change of ends, India secured their fourth penalty nook however Sanjay’s flick was saved by Yoshikawa.
India secured back-to-back penalty corners quickly, the second of which was transformed by Rohidas with with a robust drag-flick to the highest proper nook of Japan objective.
India regarded threatening and continued to press laborious on the Japanese defence seeking extra objectives because the third quarter ended.
Three minutes into the ultimate quarter, India made the scoreline 4-0 when Abhishek mixed nicely with Mandeep to attain his second objective of the day.
However the Japanese did not bow down with no struggle and got here again strongly, scoring two fast objectives within the final 5 minutes of the sport.
The Japanese secured three penalty corners in a span of three minutes and managed to seek out the online from the third one by way of a high-quality variation objective from Mitani.
Japan pulled one other again simply on the stroke of the ultimate hooter from a counter assault by way of Kato.
