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India, reigning champion, will face Japan in the 2018 Asian Hockey Champions Trophy semi-final at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat, Oman on Saturday. India is undefeated in the tournament and has dominated the standings with 13 points in the round robin playoff round in five games. India won four out of five and the match against Malaysia ended in a draw. This is the second time that India and Japan will face each other in the tournament. In the round robin, the world number India won a dominant victory with a 9-0 win over the Asian Games gold medalist
In the last 12 meetings between the two teams, India won 11 wins and one match ended in a draw.
India has not lost to Japan's gold medalist at the 2018 Asian Games since the 2013 Asian Champions Trophy, where Yoshihara Heita scored two goals for Japan , recording a historic 2-1 win.
India kicked off the competition with a 11-0 win. Oman then beat Pakistan rivals 3-1 in their second match.
However, due to several missed opportunities, India was forced to a 0-0 draw by Malaysia in its fourth game of the tournament. But they rebounded with style, beating South Korea 4-1 to enter the semi-finals.
Captain Manpreet Singh, who scored a sensational individual goal against Pakistan, believes his team is fortunate enough to succeed at the right time.
"I think at the recent tournaments we have participated in this year, we have always started the competition well, but we have not been able to finish as well as we would have liked," said Manpreet . In preparation for the Odisha Men's World Cup, Bhubaneswar 2018, this semifinal match against a good Japanese team will give us the chance to reach a peak at the right time and reserve a place for the final. " said the 26-year-old.
"We know that we are going to play in the game as favorites, but that does not mean anything if we do not play on the pitch, we will be ready to fight for every duel and every ball, and we will towards the match starts well, "said the Indian skipper.
The match India vs Japan will start at 22:40 UTC.
( With IANS entries )
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