Back to their best after a slow start, defending champions and Olympic bronze-medallist India would start as overwhelming favourites against Asian Games gold winner Japan in the semifinal of the Asian Champions Trophy men’s hockey tournament here on Tuesday.
The Manpreet Singh-led side’s confidence must be sky high as they had thrashed Japan 6-0 in their last round-robin match and come Tuesday, India would definitely fancy another big win en route to the title clash.
Having said that, India will need to guard against complacency as any slip-up could spoil all their hard work.
India ended the round-robin stage of the five-nation tournament at the top of the standings with 10 points, ahead of Korea (6), Japan (5), Pakistan (5) and hosts Bangladesh (0).
PTI
