Asian Games, men's hockey: India beat Japan 4-2
The Indian men's hockey team beat reigning champions Japan 4-2 in its third Pool A match at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, People's Republic of China, on September 28. Abhishek scored a brace, while Mandeep Singh and Amit Rohidas slammed a goal each for India. India beat Uzbekistan 16-0 and Singapore 16-1 in their first two games. Here are further details.
Here's the match summary
Abhishek opened the scoring for India in the 13th minute. Eleven minutes later, Mandeep added another to give India a cushion. Amit scored another goal for India in the third quarter (34'). Abhishek completed his brace by scoring in the 48th minute. Japan added a couple of goals in the final four minutes (Genki Mitani and Ryosei Kato), but it was too late.
India to face Pakistan
After winning three consecutive matches, India will next face arch-rivals Pakistan on Saturday. The winner of this clash will go on to top the Pool A points table. The top two teams Pool A and B will advance into the semi-finals. Notably, both India and Pakistan are unbeaten after three matches, but the former have a +33 goal difference compared to Pakistan's +30.
A look at the format
India are in pool A with Pakistan, Japan, Bangladesh, Singapore, and Uzbekistan. They will play every team once in a round-robin format with the top two teams in both pools will progress to the semi-finals. The much-awaited India-Pakistan clash will happen on September 30.
A look at the Indian men's hockey team's record
The Indian men's hockey team won three gold medals in 1966, 1998 and 2014 at the Asian Games. India's silver medals came in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1990, 1994, and 2002. India have won the bronze medal in 1986, 2010, and 2018 respectively. Notably, Pakistan have won the most number of gold medals at Asian Games (8).
