Striker Mandeep Singh scored a brilliant hat-trick to hand India a fighting 4-3 victory over lower-ranked Japan in a round robin match of the 26th Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament, here on Wednesday.
Having squandered the early lead provided by a penalty corner conversion from Rupinderpal Singh, India were trailing when Mandeep got into his goal-scoring act in the second half.
It needed two goals from Mandeep in the last 10 minutes to help India avoid a stunning loss.
Neutralising India's early lead through Kazuma Murata's fine deflection in the 10th minute, Japan led twice in the game with goals coming from Heita Yoshihara (43rd) and Genki Mitani (45th), but they could not overcome Mandeep's brilliance.
Mandeep got into the goal-scoring act with a fine touch on a through ball from Harmanpreet Singh in the 45th minute.
He then came back to tap in a square ball from Sardar Singh in the 51st minute and then ensured three points for India by capitalising on a diagonal ball from Rupinderpal in the 58th minute.
The win gave India a chance of making the second successive Final in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup after having finished runners-up behind Australia last year.
Sreejesh ruled out of tourney
India captain and goalkeeper PR Sreejesh was on Wednesday ruled out of the ongoing Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament due to a knee injury he sustained in the match against defending champions Australia. Sreejesh has a painful right knee due to a ligament injury that generally takes two to three months to heal.
"Sreejesh has been told that his injury will take 2-3 months to heal," coach Roelant Oltmans said after the 4-3 win over Japan.