Assured of a place in the semifinals, defending champions India would look to continue its winning run when it clashes with Japan in their final round robin match of the Asian Champions Trophy men’s hockey tournament here on Sunday.
After a slow start to the tournament, Olympic bronze-medallist India roared back into the five-team tournament with two consecutive wins.
Playing its first tournament after a historic Olympic campaign, India was held to a 2-2 draw by Korea in their opener.
However, the players lifted their games by leaps and bounds to trounce host Bangladesh 9-0 and then got the better of arch-rival Pakistan 3-1 on Friday.
India is currently leading the standings with seven points from three games ahead of Korea (5), Japan (2) and Pakistan (1).
Bangladesh is yet to register its presence in the scoresheet, having lost both their games so far.
Coming into the tournament as clear favourites, the Indians were by far the better side among all other teams, simply on the basis of form and world standings.
