Asian Champions Trophy hockey final: India beat Japan 4-1 for sixth title
India came from a goal down to beat Japan 4-1 in Mohali, a third straight Asian Champions Trophy and a record sixth. Who scored and what changed.
India won the men’s Asian Champions Trophy for a third time in a row on Thursday night, beating Japan 4-1 in the final at the Olympian Balbir Singh Senior International Hockey Stadium in Mohali. It is India’s sixth title in the competition, a record, and it came after they spent most of the match a goal behind.
How the final turned
Japan struck first and early. Kazumasa Matsumoto beat goalkeeper Suraj Karkera in the 3rd minute, and for more than half the game Japan defended that lead with numbers behind the ball.
The pressure broke in the 42nd minute. A penalty-corner routine was stopped by Japan’s goalkeeper Kisho Kuroda, but Shilanand Lakra was first to the loose ball and levelled from close range. Japan protested the height of the flick; the TV umpire let the goal stand.
After that India scored three times in six minutes:
- 48’ Dilpreet Singh, set up by Hardik Singh
- 53’ Jugraj Singh, from a penalty corner
- 54’ Sukhjeet Singh, deflecting in a slapshot from Vivek Sagar Prasad
The final was decided in normal time; there was no shootout.
Unbeaten on home turf
India won every match of the tournament, which ran from 27 October to 5 November across Jalandhar and Mohali with six teams. They beat Japan 4-1 in the group stage too, and thrashed South Korea 8-1 in the semi-final.
Captain Harmanpreet Singh finished as top scorer with 10 goals and was named Hero of the Tournament, according to Hockey India. The run took his senior international tally to 250 goals. Krishan Bahadur Pathak was voted goalkeeper of the tournament.
Hardik Singh played his 200th senior international in the final, while Nilakanta Sharma played his last match for India. Hockey India announced Rs 3 lakh for each player and Rs 1.5 lakh for each member of the support staff.
Malaysia took bronze, beating South Korea 5-2 earlier on Thursday. Japan, runners-up in 2013 and 2021, are still waiting for their first title.
Why Pakistan fans care
Pakistan did not play in this edition. The last time the two neighbours met in an Asian Champions Trophy final, in Muscat in 2018, rain washed the match out and the title was shared, one of the six India now count. Pakistan’s own wins came in 2012 and 2013, before that shared 2018 crown.
