Japan beat India by 5-3 goals in the second semifinal, setting the final clash with South Korea, in Hero Men’s Asian Champions Trophy hockey held today at Maulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium in the city.

The final between the two teams will be held tomorrow at the same venue at 6pm, following the place deciding match between arch-rival India-Pakistan that begins at 3.30 pm.

The Indian hockey team, the joint-defending champions, went behind within the first couple of minutes as Shota Yamada converted a penalty stroke in the very first minute while Raiki Fujishima made it double from penalty corner in the next minute as Indian custodian Suraj Karkera was unable to stop a low drive.

Japan continued their domination in the second quarter, but Dilpreet Singh reduced the margin against the flow scoring the first goal for India in the 17th minute while Yoshiki Kirishata made the score line 3-1 converting a penalty stroke in the 24th minute.

In the third quarter Japan went out of reach from India with two field goals when Kosei Kawabe scored the fourth goal for Japan in the 35th minute and Ryoma Ooka made the score line 5-1 in the 41st minute.

India were desperately trying to stage a fight back in the fourth quarter creating some scoring chances.

The men in blue earned a penalty corner with seven minutes left in the match and Harmanpreet Singh score the second goal with a low drag-flick while Hardik Singh further reduced the margin scoring the third goal one minute before the long whistle.

Earlier, in the round robin league stage, India thrashed Japan by 6-0 goals.

Earlier, Jang Jonghyun scored a brilliant hat-trick with saw co South Korea reached final when they came from behind beat Pakistan by 6-5 goals in the keenly contested first semifinal held today at the same venue.