A dominant India mauled reigning Asian champions Japan 5-0 to enter their fourth Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament final at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium in Chennai on Friday.
While three-time champions India adopted a high-press hockey from the onset, Japan played deep into their defence to thwart the home team's attacks.
India got the first scoring chance of the match in the form of a penalty corner but Japan goalkeeper Takashi Yoshikawa made a confident save to deny home team skipper Harmanpreet Singh.
The Indians set pace of the game and enjoyed bulk of the possession, while Japan played catch-up hockey.
After a barren first quarter, India finally took the lead in the 19th minute through Akashdeep Singh, who slapped the ball in from a rebound from after Hardik Singh's initial shot was saved by Japan second goalkeeper Takumi Kitagawa.
India kept up the tempo and earned their second penalty corner in the 23rd minute and India skipper Harmanpreet sounded the board with a fierce low flick to the left of Japanese goalie to double India's lead.
Just at the stroke of half-time, India tripled their lead through Mandeep Singh.
It was Manpreet Singh who was instrumental in getting the third goal as he intercepted the ball in the mid-field and then beat three Japanese defenders to set it up for Mandeep, who just had to direct the ball in.
The trend continued after the change of ends as India continued to press hard on the Japanese goal.
Sumit probably scored the goal of the tournament with a back stick flick into the net from a tight angle after being brilliantly set up by Manpreet hardwork from the right flank.
Young Karthi Selvam made it 5-0 in India's favour in the 51st minute after being fed by an unselfish Sukhjeet Singh, who received a perfect ariel ball from Harmanpreet.
India will take on Malaysia in the final on Saturday, while Japan will be up against defending champions South Korea in the third-fourth place play-off match.
Malaysia enters maiden final
Malaysia blew away defending champions South Korea 6-2 with a superlative performance to enter its maiden final in the Asian Champions Trophy in Chennai on Friday.
The goals were scored by Faizal Saari, Shello Silverious, Abu Kamal Azrai and Najmi Jazlan.
For Korea, Woo Cheon Ji and skipper Jonghyun Jang found the back of the net.
The first quarter began on a positive note for both sides, as it took just three minutes for Korea to surge ahead, with Ji scoring a field goal.
However, it did not take long for Malaysia to level proceedings as in the very next minute, Azrai fired in a field goal in a solo effort to bring the deadlock back on.
After an attack each, it was Malaysia that took the lead this time, as in the ninth, Jazlan scored for the side through a penalty corner rebound.
While Malaysia's Amirul Azahar was green carded in the subsequent minute, in the 14th, it was a PC for Korea, with Jang coming up with a fierce drag-flick to equalise.
As the second quarter began, just after four minutes, Malaysia earned a PC, and it was Saari who got it converted. Also, in the 21st, Jazlan netted the fourth for the Malaysians through another PC.
The Koreans defended well for the rest of the quarter despite the Malaysians coming with a convincing attack, as the latter led 4-2 at the half-time break.
After the ends were switched in the third quarter, it was an intense battle between the two sides, whereas Malaysia's Khaliq Hamirin was shown a yellow card in the 41st.
While a penalty corner was awarded to Korea two minutes later, Korea earned a penalty stroke on referral from a subsequent short corner.
However, it yielded no result as Jihun Yang's attempt was denied by custodian Hafizuddin Othman.
As the fourth quarter began to unfold, just a couple of minutes into it, Silverius converted Ashran Hamsani's into the fifth goal for the Malaysians, while the very next minute, he tapped in the sixth after Seunghoon deflected Najib Hassan's pass to the scorer.
As Korea made a goalkeeping change, bringing in Jaehan Kim for Jaehyeon Kim, there was nothing to add to the scoreboard.
