Hockey: India open Asia Cup campaign hammering Japan 5-1

New Delhi: India missed a number of chances but still managed to hammer Japan 5-1 in their first match of Pool A at the 10th men's hockey Asia Cup in Dhaka on Wednesday. (AS IT HAPPENED)

SV Sunil opened the scoring for India as early as the 3rd minute. However, Kenji Kitazato equalised for Japan in the very next minute. 

The circle penetrations by India continued to outnumber that of Japan's who relied more on counter attacks. 

While India's repeated forays resulted in some frustrating misses, especially off the sticks of Sunil and Ramandeep Singh, the World No. 6 Indians restored their lead in the 22nd minute through Lalit Upadhyay's brilliance. 

The teams went into half-time with India leading 2-1.

The third quarter saw two more goals from Manpreet Singh's boys when Ramandeep (33rd) minute finally found his mark from a narrow-angle to breach the net. Drag-flicker Harmanpreet scored the first of his two goals in the 35th minute by sounding the board off India's first penalty corner. 

Harmanpreet, who was also part of the Junior World Cup-winning squad last year, scored again in the fourth quarter through a 48th-minute PC, where the Indian formation went for a variation played by Varun Kumar and converted by Harmanpreet.

India next play hosts Bangladesh on Friday.