Mandeep’s hat-trick helps India down Japan
Mandeep Singh stole the match from Japan with an incredible hat-trick of goals to ensure the India men’s hockey team a 4-3 win in a nerve-gripping fourth robin-round encounter at the 26th Sultan Azlan Shah Tournament on Wednesday.
While Kazuma Murata (10’), Heita Yoshihara (43’), Genki Mitani (45’) scored to give Japan the edge over India, it was goals by Rupinder Pal Singh (6’) and Mandeep Singh (45’, 51’ and 58’) that clinched victory for India.
Mandeep Singh became the third player in the event after Australia’s Trent Mitton and Tom Craig to score a hat-trick.
Off their first penalty corner, in the 6th minute, Rupinder Pal Singh improvised on the injection by Sardar Singh to fire the ball into the top left of the goal giving Japan keeper Suguro Shimmoto little chance to save.
But Japan were quick to hit back as Masaki Ohashi set-up a goal with a square pass to Kazuma Murata who deflected it past India keeper Akash Chikte.
After going into the first break in a 1-1 stalemate, India dominated ball possession to keep up the pressure on Japan.
Heita Yoshihara was the hero of the third quarter as he came up with a speedy dribble to carry the ball from the half way line, beat India defender Gurinder Singh to score from the far post to give Japan a 2-1 lead.
India equalised when forward Mandeep Singh struck a goal in the 45th minute assisted by Harmanpreet Singh. But Japan reclaimed the lead with a 45th minute goal by Genki Mitani to end the third quarter at 3-2.
India found a breakthrough when Mandeep Singh scored his second goal of the match by getting a perfect deflection of Talwinder’s assist.
The winner came in the 58th minute when Mandeep Singh took a reverse hit at the goal after an assist by Rupinder Pal Singh that sealed the match for India.
INJURD SREEJESH RULED OUT OF ACTION
India captain and goalkeeper PR Sreejesh has been ruled out of the ongoing Sultan Azlan Shah Cup owing to a knee injury he suffered in the match against defending champions Australia.
Sreejesh has a painful right knee due to a ligament injury that generally takes two to three months to heal, a team source said on Wednesday ahead of India’s preliminary league fixture against Japan.
The 28-year-old Sreejesh was using a crutch for support as he accompanied the Indian team to the ground, but sat in the galleries as the teams lined up for the match.