Asian Champions Trophy 2023 - Harmanpreet's goal earns India 1-1 Draw v Japan

Chennai: In their second game of the Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament here on Friday, three-time champions and favorites India were held to a 1-1 draw by Japan. Japan has succeeded! It deprives India of a point. Given its excellent defensive performance, it was richly deserving of one. India drops to second after failing to maintain its position at the top of the table. Given the penalty corner opportunities it wasted, coach Craig Fulton would most definitely not be pleased with it.

Poor conversion from penalty corners, an old enemy of India, came back to bother them as captain Harmanpreet Singh missed four consecutive attempts to score due to interference from the Japanese defence. When Ken Nagayoshi's drag flick found the back of the Indian net to give Japan a well-deserved 1-0 lead going into the second half, the stadium fell silent. In a span of ten minutes, India was awarded five penalty corners, but despite Jugraj Singh and Varun taking them concurrently, India failed to score on any of them. Mandeep was issued a warning in the 55th minute, which allowed India to defend their goal while playing with 10 men. Pakistan held reigning champion South Korea to a 1-1 draw earlier in the day while Malaysia thrashed China 5-1 to move to the top of the points standings. India will play Malaysia on Sunday after a day off.