Indian men's hockey team went down 2-5 against Japan in the Asia Cup hockey tournament on Tuesday.
The inexperienced and young Indian team seemed helpless against the mighty Japan, in their second group stage match.
After their 1-1 draw against Pakistan in the opening match, India's chances of qualifying for the knock-out stage looks very thin.
The first two quarters of the game looked very difficult for the Indian team as they struggled against a very organised Japanese team.
The first quarter went goal-less for both the teams, however, in the second quarter, Japan went onto score two goals while India only managed one. Japanese drag-flicker Yoshiki Kirishita opened the scoring for his team by converting a penalty corner. Later, Kosei Kawabi helped Japan up their lead to 2-0 in the 39th minute. Soon after that, India's Pawan Rajbhar scored the first goal for his side, keeping the contest alive and the score was 2-1.
The third quarter again went goal-less for both the teams.
Things heated up in the fourth quarter when Japan's Ooka Ryoma scored a brilliant counter goal to double their lead. Once again India got back into the game soon after, as Uttam Singh scored India's second goal, making it 2-3.
Indian and Japanese players in action during Asia Cup.
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However, things went downhill for India from there as they lost two of their players - Pawan Rajbhar (green card) and Karthik Selvam (yellow card), which helped the Japanese attack stronger.
By the end of the fourth quarter, Japan took big advantage of the 9-men Indian team and late goals from Koji Yamasaki and Kosei Kawabe sealed the deal for Japan as they won the match 5-2.
After this defeat India are now placed third position in Group A. Their next Asia Cup 2022 match is against hosts Indonesia on Thursday, at 5 pm IST.
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