| Japan enter semis, meet India
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September 6, 2007
Japan 8 Singapore 0
Japan entered the semi-finals of the 2007 Asia Cup Hockey Tournament beating Singapore 8-0. Japan’s victory also destroyed any hopes that Pakistan had off entering the last four. Only a Japanese defeat would have let Pakistan into the last four stage.
With the victory over Singapore, Japan has nine points with their sole defeat coming against Malaysia. They, thus, finish second in Pool A and will meet India in the semi-finals, the topper of Pool B.
Japan took it relatively easy in the match and didn’t push too hard. They still managed to score five goals in the first half and rounded off the tally with eight in the match.
Yamabori Takahiko, captain of the Japanese side, scored a hat-trick.
Before the Asia Cup began, Japan’s target was off reaching the semi-final which they achieved by beating Singapore.
Japan’s major victory in Pool A came when they beat Pakistan 3-1 in a crucial Pool encounter. Those three points were worth their weight in gold as Pakistan drew with Malaysia and finished on seven points compared to nine of Japan. Pool A topper Malaysia finished with ten points.
Score Sheet:
Yamabori Takahiko (6th, FG) 1-0
Yamabori Takahiko (8th, PC) 2-0
Yamabori Takahiko (12th, FG) 3-0
Yoshida Kazuo (26th, PC) 4-0
Tsubouchi Kazuhiro (33rd, FG) 5-0
Ito Mitsuru (42nd, FG) 6-0
Ito Akira (54th, FG) 7-0
Ota Sho (58th, FG) 8-0
| Schedule |
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Final Standings :
1. India
2. S Korea
3. Malaysia
4. Japan
5. China
6. Pakistan
7. Bangladesh
8. Hong Kong
9. Sri Lanka
10. Singapore
11. Thailand
Sunday's Matches  |
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| TEAM A | TEAM B | Playoff | TIME | RESULT | |||
| S Lanka | SPore | 9/10 | 08:00 | 6-0 | |||
| Ban | HKG | 7/8 | 07:00 | 3-1 | |||
| China | Pak | 5/6 | 09:30 | 3-2 | |||
| Malaysia | Japan | 3/4 | 16:00 | 5-3 | |||
| India | S Korea | 1/2 | 18:30 | 7-2 | |||
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Saturday's Matches |
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| TEAM A | v | TEAM B | TIME | RESULT | |||
| Singapore | v | Thailand | 08:00 | 4-0 | |||
| Pak | v | Ban | 07:00 | 10-0 | |||
| China | v | HongKong | 09:30 | 6-1 | |||
| S Korea | v | Malaysia | 17:00 | 2-1 | |||
| India | v | Japan | 19:30 | 4-1 | |||
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SCORE TABLE |
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| POOL A | |||||||
| TEAM | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | PTS |
| Malaysia SF | 4 | 3 | 1 | 26 | 4 | 10 | |
| Japan SF | 4 | 3 | 1 | 18 | 4 | 9 | |
| Pakistan | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 7 | 7 |
| Hong Kong | 4 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 28 | 3 | |
| Singapore | 4 | 4 | 2 | 27 | 0 | ||
| POOL B | |||||||
| TEAM | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | PTS |
| India SF | 5 | 5 | 46 | 2 | 15 | ||
| S Korea SF | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 41 | 8 | 10 |
| China | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 32 | 6 | 10 |
| Bangladesh | 5 | 2 | 3 | 16 | 22 | 6 | |
| Sri Lanka | 5 | 1 | 4 | 15 | 46 | 3 | |
| Thailand | 5 | 5 | 1 | 67 | 0 | ||
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 A team should be ready to play anyone. Of course, more |
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