Ipoh: 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 Wednesday.
Having squandered the early lead provided by a penalty corner conversion by Rupinder Pal 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 shocking 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 hold on to it in front of Mandeep’s brilliance.
Mandeep scored his first goal in the 45th minute with a fine touch on a through ball from Harmanpreet Singh. Six minutes later he was at the right place and at the right time to tap in a square ball from Sardar Singh and then ensured three points for India by capitalising on a diagonal ball from Rupinder Pal in the 58th minute.
The win kept India’s challenge alive in the six-nation tournament, taking them to seven points from four matches. India had finished runners-up in the last edition.
However, in this game, the laxity of the Indian defence was exposed once again. In the case of the first two Japanese goals, the defenders were guilty of not maintaining the right formation.
Japan were down to 10 men when striker Murata reduced the Indian defenders to spectators as he weaved past them to score off Masaki Ohashi’s prompt. It was Japan’s equaliser.
Japan took a 2-1 lead in when Yoshihara was allowed to run unchallenged to the top of the box and his shot beat Indian goalkeeper Akash Chikte for a soft goal. There were four players around Yoshihara, but none were prompt enough to challenge him.
It was a game to cherish for midfielder Talwinder Singh as he donned the national jersey for his 50th game.
Press Trust of India
