India draws against Japan 1-1 at Asian Champions Trophy – Hockey Update
The Men’s hockey teams of India and Japan faced each other in the second match of the Asian Champions Trophy played on Sunday, September 4 at the Ordos Hockey Stadium in China but failed to make the match decisive as it ended at a one-all draw.
It was a great chance for the Indian squad to earn full points in order to keep their chances alive for a berth in the finals. However, they conceded a goal in the final minutes that made the tied the game.
Amazingly the Indian team has had an edge over the Japanese, as they took China down by five goals in the first match. On the other side, the Japanese lost to South Korea in the event-opening match of the Asian Champions Trophy.
In the match between India and Japan, the former one has had great chances to make a heavy-margin victory over the latter team. However, it was not done and the Indians made plenty of mistakes that they paid for in the form of a draw result. The Indian players
particularly the strikers were not quite impressive in their game.
In the very early minutes, the Japanese strikers carried out many attacks to test the defensive line of India. However, the Indian defensemen particularly V Raghunath and Rupinder Pal Singh were strong enough to deny the efforts.
The Indian side gathered up pace with the passage of time, but they lacked unity in their game strikes. They accomplished attacks in the form of a group comprised of four to five players whether at the mid-field position or flanks.
The ball remained mostly in the mid-field position in the first fifteen minutes of the match, as neither line-up could create any dangerous move against the other team. In the 16th minute of the mark, Gurwinder of India found an opportunity to
score a goal but to no avail.
Following the first missed attempt, the Indians continued their efforts against Japan in search of a go-ahead goal. At last their efforts paid off in the form of a goal in the 22nd minute of the game. Gurwinder held the ball after Roshan Minza
failed to get past the Japanese goalie and sent it into the goal through a powerful flicking shot. It was the point which changed the entire scenario in the favour of India.
In a matter of few minutes, the Indians received their first short corner of the match but to no use. Ravi Pal missed the chance to double the tally. With seconds left on clock in the first half of play, India missed another short corner.
Both the teams failed to score any goal until the second last minute of the match that changed the entire result. Naoto Shiokawa scored a goal in the 69th minute and concluded the match at one-all draw.
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