The defending champion Indian men’s hockey team in the Asian Champions Trophy 2024 defeated Japan 5-1 in their second league match played at the Moki Hockey Training Base on Monday. In the match, Sukhjeet Singh scored two goals for India in the second minute and 60th minute of the match. Abhishek scored in the third minute of the match, Sanjay in the 17th minute and Uttam Singh in the 54th minute.
For Japan, Kazumasa Matsumoto scored the only goal for his team in the 41st minute. Earlier, the Indian team defeated hosts China 3-0 in the opening match of their campaign on Sunday. Now on Wednesday, India will play their next match against Malaysia.
For India, Sukhjeet Singh scored a brilliant goal in the second minute of the game and made a significant contribution in taking the team ahead rapidly. The Indian team made a great start in the second match played on Monday. India took the lead with a brilliant goal by Sukhjeet Singh in the second minute itself. Abhishek managed to dodge the Japanese players in the very next minute and dodged many Japanese defenders and took the ball past the goalkeeper and reached the goal.
This goal of Abhishek gave the Indian team a 2-0 lead. The Indian team continued its attack in the second quarter of the match as well. In the 17th minute of the match, Sanjay converted a brilliant penalty corner into a goal and gave the Indian team a 3-0 lead, which put the Indian team in a good position. The Japanese players also tried to make a comeback in the game by performing better during this time, but their efforts were not successful and they did not score a goal. The Indian team was ahead 3-0 till half time.
The Japanese players performed well in the third quarter and managed to score a goal in the 41st minute. With this goal by Japan’s Kazumasa Matsumoto, the score of both the teams became 3-1.
In the fourth quarter of the match, in the 54th minute, Uttam Singh scored the fourth goal for the team, which made the score 4-1. Another goal came for India in the last moment of the game. Sukhjeet scored a brilliant goal in the 60th minute, due to which the Indian team won the match 5-1.
India maintained its dominance throughout the match by defeating Japan 5-1 and finished the match in a brilliant manner. In the match played on Monday, the Indian hockey team has reached the top position in the points table by defeating Japan 5-1.
India’s Abhishek was selected as the ‘Player of the Match’, after which he said that, this victory was the effort of the whole team. We attacked well while sticking to the basics and we ensured that we remained on target. I am happy to be honored with the Hero of the Match award.
