India earned a place in the Women's Hockey Asia Cup final ©Asian Hockey Federation

India claimed an impressive victory over defending champions and hosts Japan to book their place in the final of the Women's Hockey Asia Cup in Kakamigahara.

The Indian team made a fast start to the match at the Gifu Prefecture Green Stadium, as they took full control of the match.

Gurjit Kaur opened the scoring from a penalty corner with just seven minutes played, before a strike from Navjot Kaur two minutes later.

A second penalty corner from Gurjit less than a minute afterwards helped India into a 3-0 advantage in the tie.

While their hopes of defending the continental title appeared in tatters after the early blows, efforts from Shiho Tsujii and Yui Ishibashi in the second period saw Japan to move within one goal of their rivals.

Crucially, Lalremsiami scored for India in the third period to give her team a two goal cushion, which they maintained to the conclusion of the tie.

India will face the challenge of China in the gold medal match, with their upcoming opponents having battled through their last four match against South Korea.

Cho Hye-jin gave South Korea a 1-0 lead in the opening period, before Meiyu Liang levelled the match for China via a penalty stroke.

Efforts from Jiaqi Zhong and Tiantian Luo looked to have secured victory for China as the match progressed, but a 58th minute strike from Kim Jong-eun placed them under pressure in the closing stages.

China held on to claim a 3-2 win and booked their place in the final.

It will be a repeat of the 2009 gold medal match in Bangkok, where China emerged as 5-3 winners against India.

The Chinese team will hope to win the tournament for the third time, which would equal South Korea’s record, having also triumphed back in Hong Kong during 1989.

India won the event for the only time in 2004, when they beat Japan 1-0 in front of their home fans in New Delhi.

They ended as the runners-up back in 1999 and 2009.

South Korea will face Japan in a repeat of the 2013 final, but this time the two teams will battle for bronze.

Thailand will clash with Malaysia to decide the fifth place finisher, while Singapore are due to face Kazakhstan to decide which nation ends seventh.

A rest day will be held tomorrow, with the tournament concluding on Sunday (November 5).