HANGZHOU, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) — Captain Harmanpreet Singh scored twice to assist India beat Japan 5-1 to assert the lads’s hockey gold medal on the Hangzhou Asian Games right here on Friday.
World No. 3 India defeated South Korea 5-3 within the semifinals, whereas Fifteenth-ranked Japan edged China 3-2 to enter the ultimate. In the 36 video games between the 2 finalists, India have 29 wins, 4 attracts and three defeats.
Manpreet Singh broke the impasse for India within the twenty fifth minute, and Harmanpreet Singh added one other by a penalty nook purpose within the thirty second minute.
Rohidas Amit and Abhishek widened the hole to 4-0 within the thirty sixth and forty eighth minutes, earlier than Japan’s Seren Tanaka pulled one again three minutes later, however Harmanpreet Singh scored his second purpose within the 59th minute to seal the victory.
“We wanted to be the No. 1 team in Asia, and I think we just proved that. What was really important was to have consistency. To win two tournaments back to back [the Asian Champions Trophy and Asian Games] is not easy,” stated India head coach Craig Fulton.
“It’s been a massive squad effort. All the staff has put in a huge shift, the players as well, and also the players who were not selected. It’s a good place to be,” he added.
In the bronze medal recreation, China did not repeat its victory over South Korea within the preliminary match, and went down 2-1.
China’s Gao Jiesheng scored by a penalty nook within the eighth minute, but it surely took just one minute for South Korea to seek out an equalizer by Kim Sung-hyun.
Jang Jong-hyun then scored the winner by a penalty nook within the 59th minute.
“It’s a pity to lose the game, but all the team members have been trying their best,” stated China head coach Weng Haiqin. “We do have a gap from those top teams, and we have learned a lot through these Asian Games. As we will prepare for the Olympic preliminary contests soon, I believe we will make progress in the next games.”