Hockey Asia Cup 2025: Harmanpreet Singh stars as India beat Japan in thrilling encounter

India registered their second successive win in the Hockey Asia Cup 2025, courtesy a thrilling 3-2 win over Japan on Sunday (August 31). This victory has put India on top of Pool A, followed by China and Japan who have a win apiece. Kazakhstan are winless from their two games so far.

India started the game with a bang with two goals in the first five minutes, leaving Japan shell-shocked. The first of them came in just the fourth minute, as Mandeep Singh got them off the mark with a neat finish. The pressure continued to be ramped up, as it rained penalty corners for the next 60 seconds and eventually, Harmanpreet scored his first as India doubled their lead very early in the contest.

Japan then soaked the Indian onslaught for the next five minutes before getting into the game themselves. The first quarter ended with a couple of penalty corners for Japan but India's 2-0 lead remained. The break helped the Japanese to compose themselves and while the second quarter didn't see a goal from either side, Japan were clearly growing into the game. They were rewarded eventually in the third quarter when Kawabe Kosei scored in the 38th minute to inject life into the game. However, Japan's hopes for getting the equaliser was thwarted by Harmanpreet who scored his second goal just seven minutes later to extend India's lead.

That goal came at the fag end of the third quarter, boosting India's morale and denting Japan's. The latter, though, came out all guns blazing in the final quarter, forcing a plethora of penalty corners in the next 10 minutes. In the 59th minute, Kosei scored his second of the game to bring Japan closer for the second time in the contest. It set things up for a classic finale but India held their nerve, maintaining their defensive shape to close Japan's attackers down.

Eventually, Japan were unable to gain the equalizer but it was a game that India dominated for most parts and were arguably the better side.