DHAKA: Defending champions and Olympic bronze medallist India dished out a below-par performance to suffer a stunning 3-5 defeat against
India were the overwhelming favourites before the start of the match after having thrashed the same opponents 6-0 in their last round robin match and also on head-to-head record, but the Japanese had other plans.
Japan were a completely different side on Tuesday as they toyed with the defence of the Manpreet Singh-led side from the beginning.
The Indians were nowhere near their last match performance against Japan as their defence crumbled under relentless pressure from the lower-ranked opposition from the onset of the match.
It was a complete contrast to the performance India had displayed against Japan in their last outing as the Olympic medallist could never recover from the early goals they conceded.
It was the Japanese who came all out attacking from the first whistle and completely dominated the opening quarter.
Japan's dominance can be gauged from the fact that they earned as many as six penalty corners in the first six minutes, two of which resulted in goals. They secured their first penalty corner in the very first minute, which resulted in a penalty stroke and Yamada made no mistake from the spot.
The Asian Games gold medallists continued to put relentless pressure on the Indian defence and secured five more penalty corners in one-and-half minutes, one of which resulting in another goal through Raiki Fujishima.
Japan completely dominated the first 15 minutes as they mounted attacks after attacks on the Indian goal to stun the Olympic bronze medallists.
It was a completely disappointing show from India as they failed to create a single scoring chance in the first 15 minutes.
Trailing by two goals, the Indians came out with more purpose in the second quarter and reduced the margin in the 17th minute through Hardik's field goal after he was set up by skipper Manpreet Singh and Dilpreet Singh.
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