Asian Games 2023: India vs Japan Hockey Preview, Last Meet, H2H Record

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India vs Japan Hockey, Asian Games 2023: The Indian men's hockey team has demonstrated impressive performance at the Hangzhou Asian Games 2023, winning their first two matches by a massive margin.

In their first Pool A match, they overpowered Uzbekistan with a score of 16-0, and followed this up with another impressive victory of 16-1 against Singapore.

They are now preparing to tackle their most formidable opponent in the tournament yet, 2018 Asian Games Gold medalist, Japan, come this Thursday.

Speaking of the upcoming match, Indian Men's Hockey Team Captain Harmanpreet Singh, who scored four goals against Singapore, said, "We are aware of the level of competition that we will face tomorrow. Japan have a strong unit and we are familiar with their strengths and weaknesses. We have to focus on our own style of play, but we have to also be ready to switch tactics as and when needed on the field to get a good result."

Indian Men's Hockey Team Vice-Captain Hardik Singh said, "We have played against Japan recently, which gives us confidence going into the match. But at the same time, they have also seen our style of play quite recently, so they will also come up with strategies to counter the same. Hence, we expect it to be a close contest. If we make correct decisions on the field, we will get a positive result from the game."

Japan have also been unbeaten so far in the Games, defeating Bangladesh 7-2 in their first Pool A match, and then followed it up with a 10-1 win over Uzbekistan in their second game. They are sitting 3rd in the Pool A tale, behind India and Pakistan.

India vs Japan Hockey Last Meet

Last month, during the Hero Asian Champions Trophy Chennai 2023 semi-final, India triumphed over Japan with a clean sheet victory of 5-0, and managed a 1-1 draw in a Pool match in the same championship.

India vs Japan Hockey H2H Record

History reveals that out of their 26 encounters since 2013, India emerged victorious 21 times, Japan won three times, while two matches concluded in a stalemate.