Indian men held by Japan; Eves lose to Korea

India squandered a golden opportunity to pick up full points and conceded a last-minute goal to draw 1-1 with Japan in their second match at the inaugural Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament here today.

After the power-packed 5-0 win over China in their tournament opener yesterday, the match against Japan turned out to be anti-climax for the Indians. For India Gurwinder Singh Chandi (22nd minute) scored his second goal of the tournament while Naoto Shiokawa equalised for Japan in the 69th minute.

India now have four points from two matches while the Japanese, who had lost their opening encounter 2-3 against South Korea, have one in their kitty.

Against Japan today, the Indians did all the hard work and should have won by a larger margin but for the errors committed by the forward line. However, it was Japan which started strongly with three forwards raiding the Indian defence but young Rupinder Pal Singh and V Raghunath held firm.

Upfront, the India forwards did well but lacked cohesion. They attacked in groups of four-five players both from the middle as well as from the flanks, but lacked co-ordination inside the Japanese striking circle.

Women lose 1-4

The Indian women’s hockey team failed to emulate their male counterparts and started their Asian Champions Trophy campaign on a disappointing note, losing 1-4 to formidable Korea here today.

Contrary to the scoreline, it was the Indian eves who started brightly and dominated the first 15 minutes of the exchange. However, after the initial burst the Indian lost gas and the Koreans were quick to seize the opportunity and opened the scoring in the 19th minute through Jong Eun Kim.

The Koreans pumped in three more goals in the second half through Mi Hyun Park and Seul Ki Cheon, while India managed to reduce the margin through Joydeep Kaur, who converted their fifth penalty corner. If not for the defensive trio of Mukta Barla, Jaspreet Kaur and Joydeep Kaur, who played their hearts out, the margin of defeat could have bigger for India. Even though the Indian forward-line had the Koreans on the mat in the initial minutes, they lacked scoring prowess.