Bangladesh lose 1-0 to Japan in Asian Champions Trophy hockey despite a much closer fight

Bangladesh's men's national hockey team lost 1-0 to Japan in their second match of the Asian Champions Trophy.

The only goal of the match, at the Surjit Singh Hockey Stadium in Jalandhar, India, was scored by Japan's Fujishima Reiki in the 40th minute.

Bangladesh played with a defensive approach from the start, while Japan kept up repeated attacking pressure and earned five penalty corners in total. Japan, however, failed to make use of most of those chances.

The Bangladesh side, featuring Russell Mahmud Jimmy and Amirul Islam, could not avoid defeat in the end, leaving the field with a second straight loss in the tournament.

In their first match of the tournament, Bangladesh had lost 13-0 to India.

The margin this time was far smaller than in the previous two meetings with Japan. Bangladesh lost 6-1 to Japan at the Asian Games held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, from 19 September to 4 October, and the margin was the same at last year's Hockey Asia Cup.

Bangladesh will face Malaysia at the same venue tomorrow in their third match.