India vs Japan Live Score, Hockey Asia Cup 2025: India are the outright favourites to win this tournament but they didn’t look like it in their opening match. It was a thriller in which they beat China 4-3 but one would’ve expected a far more one-sided scoreline considering how far ahead India are in the rankings. India will hence be looking for more than just a win in this match against Japan, the 2018 Asian Games gold medallist.
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In a match where all seven goals came from penalty corners, India’s drag-flick conversion against China was top-notch, scoring four goals from 11 attempts. Jugraj Singh, often wayward with his flicks, was on target in his first attempt before Harmanpreet netted thrice.
India’s problems ran far deeper than just defending the corners. As they should come to expect in most matches they will play in the Asia Cup, China had all players in their half of the field when defending. They packed their ‘D’ with four or five players, leaving very little room for Indian forwards to manoeuvre. Craig Fulton would be hoping that these issues would be sorted out as much as possible in the game against Japan.
Squads
India: Krishan Pathak, Suraj Karkera, Sumit, Jarmanpreet Singh, Sanjay, Harmanpreet Singh (captain), Amit Rohidas, Jugraj Singh, Rajinder Singh, Raj Kumar Pal, Hardik Singh, Manpreet Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Mandeep Singh, Shilanand Lakra, Abhishek, Sukhjeet Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Selvam Karthi.
Japan: Raiki Fujishima, Yuto Higuchi, Kosei Kawabe, Yamato Kawahara, Yusuke Kawamura, Naru Kimura, Kisho Kuroda, Kazumasa Matsumoto, Ken Nagayoshi, Yosei Oba, Shogo Sasaki, Ryosuke Shinohara, Kaito Tanaka, Seren Tanaka, Keita Watanabe, Hyota Yamada, Shota Yamada, Koji Yamasaki, Manabu Yamashita, Takashi Yoshikawa.
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