Asia Cup Hockey 2022: India win bronze after beating Japan 1-0

Asia Cup Hockey 2022: The Indian men’s hockey team won bronze in Hockey Asia Cup 2022 after defeating Japan 1-0 in the third-Place match. India’s Rajkumar Pal gave the team an early lead in the first quarter of the match itself, which they held on too till the end. 

Japan could not manage to score a single goal despite getting seven penalty corners, while India got just two. 

Asia Cup Hockey: India win bronze medal after defeating Japan 1-0

— ANI (@ANI) June 1, 2022

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India were down to 10 men in last minute 

In the last minute of the match, India were down to 10 men after Manjeet got a yellow match. 

Despite Japan’s relentless attempts to get a goal through, it was not enough and India still managed to hold on to their lead to win their second bronze medal at Hockey Asia Cup.

India vs Japan, Hockey Asia Cup 2022 Player of the Match- Indian Captain Birendra Lakra wins player of the match

“It was quite difficult. It is difficult to motivate ourselves for a match like this because we had not qualified for the final. But the coaches gave us tips of how to stay motivated for a game like this. We had lost to Japan in our first game against them in this tournament. But the boys trained, saw the videos and improved themselves with every game. I am very proud of them, it is a young team and they corrected their mistakes quickly,” said Lakra after the win.

Congratulations to Birendra Lakra for being named the Player of the Match for his exceptional performance and for leading the team to a Bronze Medal in Hero Asia Cup 2022, Jakarta. 🙌#IndiaKaGame #HockeyIndia #PlayerOfTheMatch @CMO_Odisha @sports_odisha @IndiaSports @Media_SAI pic.twitter.com/xns3xy91Yk

— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) June 1, 2022

Why is this win so significant?

The bronze medal win is extremely significant as India had 12 debutants in its Asia Cup 2022 squad and only two Tokyo Olympic bronze medallists- Lakra and Simranjeet Singh.

This was basically an Indian reserve team made and they managed to pull off a bronze in their first international tournament itself. 

The victory shows good depth in the men’s hockey team, which is an encouraging sign for the Indian hockey team and it’s future prospects, especially ahead of the Commonwealth Games.