A young Indian team produced a vibrant performance to beat Japan 1-0 and secured the bronze medal at Asia Cup men’s hockey 2022 at Jakarta, Indonesia on Wednesday (June 1). India had beaten Japan for the second time in this 8 team tournament to win the bronze.
Raj Kumar Pal scored a field goal as early as in the seventh minute of the game and then defended in numbers to seal the deal and Birendra-Lakra side stood like a rock to deny the opponents from scoring.
Earlier the team missed out on a place in the title clash on goal difference following an exciting 4-4 draw with South Korea at the GBK Sports Complex Hockey Stadium, Jakarta on Tuesday leaving Korea and Malaysia leading on goal difference in the Super 4s Pool Table, India needed to win the match to reach the final. India now had to face Japan in the bronze medal match on Wednesday. In the finals, South Korea clinched a record fifth Asia Cup title by beating Malaysia 2-1. With this South Korea has won most titles in the list whereas India and Pakistan have won thrice.
India began carefully, holding possession in the midfield. Karthi Selvam received a brilliant pass inside the circle and passed it to the unmarked Vishnukant Singh. But the Japanese team dealt with the danger.
India scored in the 1st quarter itself to take the lead. Once the team was up by a goal that too early in the game, India, the defending champions, held their defence strong to shrug off any potential attacks by the Japanese counterparts.
India received continuous penalty corners before the end of the first quarter, but Japan defended well to clear the danger.India immediately started sticking to attacking moves in the second quarter, looking to quickly double their lead. Japan now received back-to-back penalty corner opportunities as the Indian defence faced their first real test in the match.Japan continued to search for the equalizer point but the Indian defence stood rock and maintained their 1-0 lead till halftime.
India again started creating attacking moves from the left flank at the start of the second half. The Japanese captain tried to cross a dangerous ball inside the circle, but Dipsan Tirkey was alert and quickly cleared away the ball. Japan received a few penalty corner opportunities against India in the last quarter too but India was able to maintain the lead denying them the equalizer.
Birendra Lakra the team captain won the player of the match award for his sturdy defensive work.
This is the second time that India has won bronze in 11 Asia Cup appearances. India lost to Pakistan in the first four finals, and then won bronze in 1999. But the defending champions won the next two editions, and were fifth in 2009. In 2013, India lost the title to South Korea in the final. In total India has won 10 medals in this championship.
