That Japan is emerging as a major threat to powers in the continent in the forthcoming Asian Games this November was proved right when the team caused a major upset beating the Netherlands by three goals to two late in the evening at the BDO Masters hockey championship on Saturday.
Germany leads the table with six points followed by Netherlands and Japan with three points each. India has lost both its matches.
The result: Japan 3 (Kenji Kitazato, Kasuhiro Tsubouchi, Ono Tomonori) beat Netherlands 2 (Mink van der Weerden, Rogier Hofmann) HT 2-1.