The Indian men’s hockey team made it two wins in a row in their Asia Cup 2025 campaign and moved to the top of Pool A after beating Japan 3-2 at the Rajgir Hockey Stadium in Bihar on Saturday.
Captain Harmanpreet Singh (5’, 46’) and Mandeep Singh (4′) scored the goals for India, who are seventh in the men’s hockey rankings, while Kosei Kawabe (38′, 59′) bagged a brace for world No. 18 Japan.
With this win, India have secured a spot in the Super 4s stage and the match also marked an important milestone for Indian goalkeeper Krishan B Pathak as he celebrated his 150th international game.
India made a bright start to the opening quarter, scoring two goals in the first five minutes to assert their dominance.
In the fourth minute, Sukhjeet Singh collected the ball on the baseline and played a perfect pass to Mandeep Singh, who beat his marker in front of goal and finished to open the scoring.
In the very next minute, India won their first penalty corner of the day and after two retakes, Harmanpreet Singh fired a powerful shot that struck the Japanese goalkeeper’s foot and went into the goal.
Japan also won a penalty corner in the 13th minute but it didn’t amount to anything. They improved upon their performance in the second quarter as the match saw more end-to-end action between the two sides.
However, India’s resilient defence ensured their lead remained intact. In the 19th minute, Japan came close to scoring as Ryosuke Shinohara dribbled down the middle and fired a backhand shot, which went narrowly wide.
Japan won their second penalty corner in the 24th minute but Jarmanpreet saved it on the line and cleared it away for a retake which was eventually stopped by India.
India, meanwhile, won their second penalty corner towards the end of first-half but Amit Rohidas couldn’t find the target with his dragflick.
Japan found their first goal in the third quarter as Kosei Kawabe did well to collect a difficult pass inside the circle and followed it with an angular shot, finding the bottom right corner past the keeper.
After the goal, Japan had a spring in their steps as they started attacking aggressively in search of an equaliser, but India ensured they controlled the possession and tempo of the game and did not give away another goal.
With just seconds left in the quarter, India won a crucial penalty corner which was converted beautifully by Harmanpreet Singh through the goalkeeper’s legs to reclaim the two-goal cushion.
In the opening minutes of the final quarter, Japan won a penalty corner but were met with incredible back-to-back saves by Indian goalkeeper Suraj Karkera.
Moments later, Abhishek did well to find space inside the circle from the right as he struck a strong backhand shot towards goal but it was saved well by the Japanese keeper.
In the dying moments of the match, Japan’s Kosei Kawabe struck his second goal of the day as he won the ball on the rebound inside the circle and scored past the keeper to reduce the deficit.
Captain Harmanpreet Singh was given a yellow card in the final minute as India were down to 10 men, but they slowed down proceedings and held their ground to protect the slim lead and emerge victorious.
India will play their final Pool A match in the Asia Cup hockey tournament against Kazakhstan on Monday. They had beaten the People’s Republic of China 4-3 in their opening match.