India walloped Japan 6-1 to enter the Final of the 8th Junior Men’s Asia Cup hockey tournament on Saturday.
The semi-final victory was also India’s second in the tournament against Japan, having beaten them at the group league stage.
For India Mandeep Singh, Manpreet Singh Jr, Vikramjit Singh and Varun Kumar scored one goal apiece while Harmanpreet Singh struck twice, whose individual goals tally in the tournament has gone upto 11. For Japan, Yamada Shota reduced the margin.
India will meet the winner of Pakistan and South Korea who play each other on Sunday.
Mandeep opened India’s account in the 12th minute. Manpreet Jr increased the tally within a minute. India did not need to look back after this and continued with their goal fest as Harmanpreet scored his 10th goal of the tournament from a penalty corner giving India a comfortable 3-0 lead.
Vikramjit’s field goal in the 27th minute consolidated India’s lead to 4-0 as the winners went into the break.
Japan started the second half with an attacking intent and was rewarded with a penalty corner which was converted by Yamada Shota giving Japan a much needed breather.
However India struck back fiercely in the 48th minute through a penalty corner conversion by Harmanpreet. The margin was increased when Varun converted a penalty corner to make it 6-1 to seal a place in the final.