India beat Japan in Sultan Azlan Shah opener

06 April, Ipoh

Five time champions India defeated Japan 2-1 in their opening match of the 25th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup here Wednesday.

Despite starting the game strongly and India holding almost 84 per cent of the possession in the first five minutes, the first quarter ended goal less as Japan defended strongly to deny them any openings. In the second minute of the second quarter, Japan added to the surprise, by winning the first PC of the match and duly converted it to score the opener.

Soon after India got their act together and started stringing together the sort of game the crowd had come in expecting, with the equaliser for India coming through the stick of Harmanpreet Singh in the 25th minute via their first PC. The teams went into the break locked at 1-1.