SportsHockey
India chase sixth Asian Champions Trophy title against Japan in Mohali final tonight
Harmanpreet Singh's unbeaten side, who beat Japan 4-1 in the league stage, meet a team still looking for its first title. The final starts at 7 pm.
Key points
- India play Japan in the final at 7 pm on Thursday in Mohali.
- The five-time champions have won all six games in the tournament.
- Japan, runners-up in 2013 and 2021, are chasing their first title.
India play Japan in the final of the men’s Asian Champions Trophy in Mohali on Thursday, with the five-time champions unbeaten going into the last match of the tournament. The final starts at 7 pm, after the bronze medal match at 4.30 pm.
Harmanpreet Singh’s side have won all six of their games. They put eight past South Korea twice in three days, 8-0 in the league in Jalandhar and 8-1 in Wednesday night’s semi-final, and this is their record seventh appearance in the final.
They have already beaten Japan once in this event. In the league match in Jalandhar on 30 October, India won 4-1, with Abhishek scoring twice and Harmanpreet and Vishnu Kant Singh adding one each. Shota Yamada scored Japan’s goal from a penalty stroke. “Our strategy in the last quarter was to control the game and press higher,” Abhishek said after that match.
Japan’s long wait
Japan, captained by Raiki Fujishima, have never won the title. They were runners-up in 2013 and 2021 and took bronze in 2023. They reached this final the hard way: their semi-final against Malaysia ended goalless and they won the shoot-out 5-3.
Coach Craig Fulton had set the tone before the tournament, a few weeks after India retained their Asian Games title in Japan. “The Asian Champions Trophy 2026 is a new challenge, on home soil,” he said on 8 October, asking for “the same hunger, discipline and intensity to every match”.
No injury news was reported from either camp before the final.