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India vs Japan, Asian Champions Trophy semi-final Live Updates: India's focus will be on the penalty corner conversion rate when they take on Japan in the semi-final of Asian Champions Trophy 2023 on Friday. The match will take place at the at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium in Chennai.
A dominant Pakistan walloped China 6-1 to earn a consolation victory in the fifth place play-off encounter in the Asian Champions Trophy Hockey tournament in Chennai on Friday. Muhammad Khan and Muhammad Ammad struck a brace each for Pakistan while Abdul Shahid and Abdul Rana scored one apiece. Benhai Chen was the lone goal-scorer for China. Pakistan fielded mostly players, who are set to take part in Junior World Hockey Championship as the senior team prepared for the Asian Games in Hangzhou. The Pakistanis practically sealed the game in the opening quarter itself. It all began on an attacking note from both sides.
India will take on Japan in the semi-final match of the Asian Champions Trophy on Friday in Chennai. No doubt, India will start as favourites after their unbeaten run in the round-robin stage, winning four matches and drawing one to top the points table. However, India would be wary of Japan, the only side the hosts have not beaten. The league match between the two sides had ended in a 1-1 draw. There is a wide gap in the world rankings between the two teams as India are at fourth spot as against 19 of Japan. But the home side should not forget that they had lost to Japan 3-5 in the semifinals of the 2021 edition in Dhaka.
Former India captain Rani Rampal on Thursday hit out at women's hockey team chief coach Janneke Schopmann for being overlooked for the past two years and said that she has no plans to retire anytime soon. Rani has been sidelined for a lengthy period since leading the Indian women's team to a first-ever fourth-place finish at the Olympics in Tokyo. The 28-year-old star striker demanded answers from Schopmann as to why she is being ignored.
Veteran Indian hockey goalkeeper PR Sreejesh is taking one tournament at a time as far as his future is concerned and says he will "see how things happen" after the Asian Games in China in September-October. The 35-year-old goalkeeping legend is nearing 300 international matches after making his India debut in 2006. He is currently sharing the goalkeeping duties for India with Krishan Bahadur Pathak in the ongoing Asian Champions Trophy (ACT) in Chennai. "At this age, better don't ask me about the next two years. It's all about the next one. I am at the Asian Games, and after that, I'll see how things happen. I will take it one tournament at a time," Sreejesh told PTI when asked about the possibility of him featuring in another ACT.
Maintaining intensity throughout the 60 minutes of the game and consistency in finishing would be India's targets when the hosts take on Japan in the semifinal of the Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament in Chennai on Friday. No doubt, India will start as favourites after their unbeaten run in the round-robin stage, winning four matches and drawing one to top the points table. However, India would be wary of Japan, the only side the hosts have not beaten. The league match between the two sides had ended in a 1-1 draw.
A day after Pakistan hockey coach Muhammad Saqlain said that India were not playing a 'structural game' at the Asian Champions Trophy, his team were dealt a 4-0 loss by the hosts in Chennai on Wednesday. "India is not playing structural hockey, but Pakistan is. India is simply playing over fitness," Saqlain said during pre-match media conference. "Structural hockey is played by Korea and Japan. India has been playing behind the ball mostly and relying mainly on counter-attacking," he added.
The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) collected more than 900 dope samples from athletes of various sports, with a whopping 199 coming from track and field, in June and July ahead of the upcoming Asian Games. The national anti-doping watchdog collected 914 samples, mostly urine though few are of blood, from June 1 to July 31, according to the latest data released by NADA on Thursday. Athletics is followed by boxing (71), aquatics (65), weightlifting (56), cycling (55), kabaddi (52), wrestling (46), shooting (43) in the number of samples collected in these two months.