Asian Champions Trophy: Spirited China march into the semis, beat Japan 2-0

New Delhi: Moqi (China): Spirited China beat Japan 2-Zero to march into the semifinal as they climbed up to No.3 inside the points table here at the continuing Hero Asian Champions Trophy being held at the Moqi Hockey Training Base here on Saturday.

The presence of boisterous home crowd boosted China’s important match as they put up a spirited performance to sneak their way into top four. While they pushed Malaysia out of title contention, they also pushed Korea right down to the fourth place inside the points table and can now lock horns with Pakistan inside the first Semifinal while India will take on Korea inside the 2d semifinal on Monday. Malaysia and Japan will play the first match of the day for the Fifth and 6th placing.

Goals were scored by Benhai Chen (7′) and Jieming Chao (25′) to help China win and see no end to home crowd’s celebrations in Moqi Training Base.

China changed into pumped up from the start, dominated the ball possession inside the first quarter and created four shots on goal. From the 2 PCs they won, they converted from a brilliantly executed set-piece to take a significant 1-Zero lead as early as the 7th minute of the game. They doubled the lead inside the following quarter when Chao scored an exquisite field goal inside the twenty fifth minute.

Though Japan opened the 0.33 quarter with tactical attack that helped them win a PC inside the first short time after the 0.5-time break, China did exceedingly well to stop them from scoring. The Chinese goalie Caiyu Wang changed into kept busy through this quarter as Japan made six potential forays into the striking circle but may perhaps not breach the Chinese defence. Wang changed into specially outstanding inside the goalpost as he managed to save a whole lot of a pair of ambitious shots on goal.

The final word quarter too remained tense for China as Japan continued to push for elusive goals. Meanwhile Chinese attackers too pushed to amplify their lead with seven circle penetrations and two shots on goal while Japan came up with three PCs but none would perhaps be converted. The slugfest continued into the final moments yet China held their nerves to get past the contest with a giant win and three points inside the kitty.

Hero of the Match, Benhai Chen of China said, “We did much of preparations for this match and watched several match footage of Japan. We had lost the previous two matches and definitely desired to win at this time time and make the semifinal. We can return to the hotel and talk about how we're able to prepare for our next match against Pakistan on Monday.”