Indian men’s hockey team finished the Hero Men’s Asia Cup 2022 as the third-best team after beating Japan by 1-0 in the bronze medal match of this competition. It was a really good campaign for the second string Indian side.
On Wednesday (1st June), India faced Japan in Jakarta. The three-time Men’s Asia Cup champions Indian men’s hockey team secured the bronze medal of this edition after beating Japan by 1-0. The midfielder Raj Kumar Pal counted that only goal of the match in the seventh minute of the game after Uttam Singh’s incredible guidance.
After losing against Japan by 5-2 during the Pool A game of this Men’s Asia Cup 2022, India beat the same team twice in this competition during Super 4s Pool (2-1) and the recently concluded bronze medal match (1-0).
Due to a busy season, India decided to send the second string players, basically young talents, to this Asia Cup tournament. The players faced many challenging situations and performed really well to finish as the third-best team in this competition.
Hero Men’s Asia Cup 2022: South Korea won the trophy
Meanwhile, South Korea created a new history in the Men’s Asia Cup on Wednesday after claiming a 2-1 win against Malaysia in the final of this edition. The most successful Men’s Asia Cup team Malaysia has extended such trophies five times in this competition’s history.
Pool A
In the Pool A of this Men’s Asia Cup 2022, India competed with Japan, Pakistan and the hosts Indonesia. After the Indian men’s managed to record a 1-1 draw against the arch-rivals Pakistan, they suffered a 5-2 defeat against Japan.
In the final round of that stage, while Pakistan earlier suffered a 2-3 defeat against the group leaders Japan, India must have to beat the hosts Indonesia by at least 15 goals margin to qualify for the next round. It was an impossible scenario for the youngsters but they stunned the hockey world with a 16-0 win against the home team.
That incredible victory helped the men in blue to advance to the Super 4s Pool of this competition as the runners-up of the Pool A.
Final Pool A points table
(Note: Q means qualified for the next round)
Super4s Pool
Apart from the top two Pool A teams, the top two Pool B teams (Malaysia, South Korea, Bangladesh and Oman; sorted according to the final positions in the table) of this competition Malaysia and South Korea also joined the Super 4s Pool of this tournament.
The men in blue started their journey in this stage with a 2-1 win against Japan. But then, they had 3-3 and 4-4 draws against Malaysia and South Korea respectively.
While the last game of this stage was the must-win match for the Indian men’s hockey team, they only managed a 4-4 draw result.
Despite having the same points of five as the top two teams of this Super 4s Pool table, the men in blue had a lesser goal difference than those teams.
Final Super4s Pool points table
(Note: Q means qualified for the next round)
Indian men’s hockey team’s overall performances in the Hero Men’s Asia Cup 2022
