ACT M 2016: Kuantan, 20 October 2016: Playing its Platinum match against Japan, India posted an emphatic 10-2 in the opener of the fourth Asian Champions Trophy today.

It was Japan-India encounter’s 75th match in their glorious history that started with the 1928 Olympics, much like vintage days, today also the Japanese were made to struggle against full Indian team.

Earlier, Pakistan had suffered a humiliating loss to the hosts in the opener (2-4).

India started well to finish well to post its 67th win in 75 matches.

Its also India’s fourth match in the Asian Champions Trophy, but only second win

Any hopes Japan had of emulating the hosts were undone in the first two minutes, as Ramandeep Singh scored to give India the lead.

Seven minutes later, Rupinder Pal Singh scored what was the first of his six goals from a PC to double India’s lead.

Wearing the Captain’s armband for the game, Rupinder scored a second, albeit with a bit of luck, a second drag flick taking a deflection to hit the back of the net. Not to be outdone, Ramandeep hit back and India walked into the first quarter with a 4-0 lead.

The last time these two teams met was at the Sultan Azlan Shah where the Indians were made to sweat for a 2-1 victory.

Rupinder Pal scored two and Talwinder Singh added one more in the second quarter, before Japan got one back to go into half time 7-1 down but avoided total rout.

The second half offered scope for coach Roelant Oltmans to experiment with less-played players while giving rest to the seniors.

Japan availed the chance, and were forciful in the second half. They also scored a second against the run of play.

Returning back, Rupinder Pal added two more to his tally in the final quarter before Affan Yousuf added one, to give India a 10-2 victory.

India play Korea in their next game on Saturday.