Asian Champions Trophy 2021 semi-final: India vs Japan live updates

The Men in Blue have already defeated the same opponent in the group stage.

India enter the Asian Champions Trophy 2021 semi-finals after they finished top of the group stage. They were undefeated, with three wins and a draw. The Indian hockey team drew its opening game against South Korea and won 9-0 against Bangladesh in the second match of the Asian Champions Trophy. In the final group match against Japan, they decimated them by 6-0. India face this very same opposition today at the semi-final

Pakistan and India are joint defending champions of the tournament. They didn’t pay the final in the 2018 edition as the rains poured down heavily at the venue. The ongoing tournament involves the six best Asian countries competing in a round-robin format. In recent times, India has won the Champions Trophy in 2011, 2016 and 2018. 

5:00 PM Hello and welcome to the live updates from the semi-final Men’s Asian Champions Trophy 2021.

The Indian hockey team is currently participating in the Men’s Asian Champions Trophy 2021, hosted in Dhaka, Bangladesh from 14 December onwards. Manpreet Singh is leading the outfit after their historic Olympic bronze medal-winning performance at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Here is the team that will participate in the Asian Champions Trophy and aim to win the title:

Goalkeepers: Krishan Bahadur Pathak, Suraj Karkera 

Defenders: Gurinder Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh, Varun Kumar, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Mandeep Mor, Harmanpreet Singh, Dipsan Tirkey

Midfielders: Hardik Singh, Manpreet Singh, Sumit, Rajkumar Pal, Akashdeep Singh, Shamsher Singh, Jaskaran Singh

Forwards: Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Gursahibjit Singh, Shilanand Lakra, Dilpreet Singh

India and Pakistan are the joint-winners of the Asian Champions Trophy. They didn’t pay the final in the 2018 edition as the rains poured down heavily at the venue. Malaysia was also supposed to take part this year but withdrew before the start of the tournament. Bangladesh is playing hosts after the tournament was postponed multiple times due to the Covid-19 pandemic situation.

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