Asian Champions Trophy final: unbeaten India take on Japan in Mohali for a sixth title

India go into the Asian Champions Trophy final with a perfect record. Harmanpreet Singh’s side meet Japan at the Olympian Balbir Singh Senior International Hockey Stadium in Mohali at 7 pm IST on Thursday, 5 November, one win away from keeping the title they took in 2023 and 2024.

The hosts have won all six of their matches in Punjab. The league stage in Jalandhar opened with a 13-0 rout of Bangladesh, followed by wins of 5-2 over China, 4-1 over Japan, 4-2 over Malaysia and 8-0 over South Korea. Korea came back for the semi-final on Wednesday, 4 November, and India beat them 8-1. The tally so far: 42 goals scored, six let in.

Harmanpreet leads the scoring

The captain has ten goals, most of them drag-flicks from penalty corners. No player had more than his nine when the league stage ended, and he added one in the semi-final. The goals have been shared around: Dilpreet Singh struck twice in each of the two Korea games, while Sukhjeet Singh, Shilanand Lakra and Abhishek have all scored more than once. After his hat-trick against Malaysia on Sunday, 1 November, Harmanpreet said the squad had come for gold and that a home title was its only target.

Japan’s road to Mohali

Japan were runners-up in the league table with 10 points. They beat South Korea 3-2, Bangladesh 1-0 and Malaysia 2-1, drew 2-2 with China and lost to India on Friday, 30 October. In that game Shota Yamada drew Japan level in the first quarter by converting a penalty stroke, but two goals from Abhishek, a Harmanpreet penalty corner and a solo strike by Vishnu Kant Singh gave India a 4-1 win.

Their semi-final against Malaysia stayed goalless through 60 minutes before Japan held their nerve to take the shootout 5-3. The Japanese have stopped India in this event before, winning 5-3 in the 2021 semi-final in Dhaka.

India have lifted the Asian Champions Trophy five times, in 2011, 2016, 2018, 2023 and 2024; in 2018 India and Pakistan were declared joint winners because the final could not be played. A win on Thursday would make it six.

Malaysia and South Korea play for bronze at the same stadium at 4.30 pm. Star Sports 2 will carry both matches live, with streaming on JioHotstar, Hockey India said.