Asian Champions Trophy: India Lose 5-3 Against Japan In Semis, Will Face Pakistan For Bronze Medal

India will now face Pakistan for the bronze medal after losing in the semi-finals. Interestingly, this will be the second match between India and Pakistan within six days.

India's Hardik Singh (R) and Japan's Takuma Niwa fight for the ball during the men's field hockey semi final | Image: AFP

Asian Champions Trophy 2021 India vs Pakistan: In the Asian Champions Trophy 2021-22, the Indian hockey team had to face defeat in the semi-finals. Japan defeated India 5-3. Japan took an early lead and were 5-1 by the third quarter. India made a comeback but only to be held at 5-3. 

India will now face Pakistan for the bronze medal after losing in the semi-finals. Interestingly, this will be the second match between India and Pakistan within six days.

The first semi-final match was played between Korea and Pakistan. In this, Korea won 6-5. With the victory of Korea, Pakistan moved into the third-place match. At the same time, India also lost in the second semi-final.

Thus, India and Pakistan will fight in Dhaka on 22 December now for third place. This will be the second match between the two teams in six days.

Earlier, the match was played between India and Pakistan on 17 December. In this, India won 3-1. In this match, Harmanpreet Singh scored the first goal for Team India in the 9th minute. At the same time, in the 42nd minute, Akashdeep Singh scored a goal and put India ahead. After this, Harmanpreet Singh scored the third goal in the 53rd minute. Junaid Manzoor scored the only goal for Pakistan in the 45th minute.

Here’s a look at how the final day of Hero Men’s Asian Champions Trophy Dhaka 2021 looks like 🏆

Lock the date in your 🗓 as the #MenInBlue are ready to take on Pakistan in the 3rd/4th match and Korea & Japan lock horns in the Final 😍#IndiaKaGame #HeroACT2021 pic.twitter.com/Qk6OK8315l

— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) December 21, 2021

It has to be noted that in the Asian Champions Trophy 2021-22, India's first match was against Korea. In this both, the teams scored 2-2 goals. After this, India defeated Bangladesh 9-0. Then Pakistan was defeated and Japan was defeated. Team India won 6-0 in the match played against Japan on 19 December.

The bronze medal match against Pakistan will be played today at 3 pm IST.