Credit: Twitter
On August 7, Monday, the Japan hockey team cleaned up their dressing room after completing their match in the Asian Champions Trophy 2023. Although they lost the round-robin fixture to Malaysia by 3-1, they got a much-deserved appreciation for their human act in the face of defeat.
Japan didn’t perform at their best levels as a unit during their fourth match of the Asian Champions Trophy at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium in the city of Chennai. They conceded the first goal of the contest in the 13th minute with Jazlan Najmi converting the penalty corner for their opponents from Southeastern Asia.
Also Read: It won’t stay bad forever: Craig Fulton on Indian hockey team’s penalty conversion rate
At the half-time break, with the scoreline in favour of Malaysia at 1-0, Japan had all to do to make a comeback. But, during the third quarter, they conceded a field goal to Hasan Azuan in the 37th minute, while being a man up on the hockey pitch.
In the fourth and final quarter, Malaysia sealed the valuable three points in the competition after Silverius Shello scored a field goal in the 59th minute. Seconds later, Niwa Takuma opened the scoring for Japan to make the scoreline a bit respectable, but his efforts were far from enough for the team.
After the conclusion of the one-sided contest, Hockey India took to their official Twitter account to reveal the dressing room scene of the Japanese, which was as clean as anything in the world. They rightly captioned it, “How the Japanese leave their dressing room after every match. Sparkling Clean.”
Watch the video here:
In the other matches of the Asian Champions Trophy 2023, India managed to defeat South Korea by 3-2 to book their place in the semi-final with the last fixture of the round-robin stage still to be played. Pakistan also defeated China in the earlier match by 2-1, to keep their hopes alive for a semi-final spot in the tournament.
