India, without their regular captain, Sreejesh PR, defeated Japan 4-3 in an exciting thriller today at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2017. Mandeep Singh scored a hat-trick for the winners to inspire the win in the second last game of the group stage. The win mean that India’s chances of making the final this weekend, in Ipoh on Wednesday will stay alive.
Starting off the match, India took the early lead in the 8th minute through a successful penalty-corner conversion by Rupinder Pal Singh. This was the only goal for the first half.
In the second half, Japan scored two successive field goals through Kazuma Murata and Heita Yoshihara to take a 2-1 lead in the 43rd minute. It was then that Mandeep Singh started his scoring and his first made it 2-2 in the 45th, an equalizer only to be tamed by a Genki Mitani goal seconds later.
And it was left for the Indians to make a match of it in the final quarter and they did it tremendously well by applying pressure on the Japanese team, and then Mandeep hitting two more goals in the 51st and 58th minute to give India a vital win.
The win takes India to seven points from four matches, with fifth & last game against hosts Malaysia to come. India’s chances now lie on the back of performances of Australia and Great Britain teams, if one of the two teams slip their chances, India will play the final of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2017.