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| Japan ruled the first-ever Asia 7s. |
MANILA—Japan completed a domination of the BPI AIA Asia 7s after beating India, 3-2, in the final on Sunday night at the McKinley Hill Stadium in Taguig.
Takaharu Nakagawa scored the match decider right at the final minute of regulation as Japan broke the hearts of India, which seemed to be poised to send the final to golden goal.
Nakagawa struck first just before halftime, but Johnson D'Silva began the second half with a goal of his own to tie the match at 1-all.
Tomoya Sekine gave Japan the lead back with a 30th minute goal, but India's Mervin Stephen answered in the 41st minute to equalize anew only for his team to concede Nakagawa's heroics in the end.
Japan, which won US$25,000, finished the tournament with a perfect 5-0 record.
In the curtain-raiser, MJ Libre put on a show to lift the Philippines past Brunei, 6-3, for the bronze.
Libre scored all but one of the Philippines' goals, the first four coming in the first half where the team raced to a 5-0 lead.
Brunei found its game going late in the first half and in the second, but the Philippines was just too much.
The other goal came from Mark Niñolas.
Follow him on Twitter: @IvanSaldajeno
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