India thrash Japan 6-0 in Hockey Men's Asian Champions Trophy

Defending champions India crushed Japan 6-0 to remain unbeaten in the round-robin stage of the Asian Champions Trophy men's hockey tournament here on Sunday.

Harmanpreet Singh (10th and 53rd minute) scored a brace, while Dilpreet Singh (23rd), Jaramnpreet Singh (34th), Sumit (46th) and Shamsher Singh (54th) also registered their names on the scoresheet for India at the Maulana Bhasani Hockey Stadium.

India, who have already sealed a semifinal berth, thus end 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 (2) and hosts Bangladesh (0).

This was India's third win on the trot. Held to a draw by Korea in their lung-opener, the Manpreet Singh-led side turned things around defeating Bangladesh 9-0, while also getting the better of arch-rivals Pakistan before easily overcoming the Japanese challenge.

The dominant victory will be a huge boost for India as they head into the business end of the tournament with lots of confidence. They completely outperformed Japan, the Asian Games gold medallists, in all departments.