Kuantan: India will play Japan in the first semi-final of the 8th Junior Men’s Asia Cup on 21st November, 2015 at Wisma Belia Hockey Stadium in Kuantan, Malaysia. The match will be the second meeting between India and Japan since their opening match in the group stage of the tournament. India has already defeated Japan in the group stage encounter and will have a psychological advantage over their opponents.

The Indian team has been unbeaten in the tournament so far with wins over Japan, Malaysia, China and Oman. The Indian forwards have been in dominant form in the tournament with Harmanpreet Singh scoring a total of nine goals. Japan’s performance has also picked up in the past two matches with wins over China in their last group stage match and Bangladesh in the Quarter – finals. India will be looking for their second win over their opponents whereas Japan will be keen on ending India’s unbeaten run in the cup.

Harendra Singh, Coach, Indian Junior Men’s Hockey Team, said, “We have faced Japan earlier in the pool stage. We are familiar with their game which gives us confidence. The rest day has given us enough time to figure out the flaws from the first match against Japan and we have ardently worked on rectifying them. Semi – Final is a different ball game all together and we will have to concentrate on playing our natural game without being too cautious of the stage of the tournament. We will be hoping for a good team performance.”

The 8th Junior Men’s Asia Cup is being played from the 14 – 22 November 2015 at the Wisma Belia Hockey Stadium in Kuantan, Malaysia. One of the elite Asian tournaments, the 8th Junior Men’s Asia Cup has the top eight Asian hockey teams.