Back to their best after a slow start, defending champions and Olympic bronze-medallist India would start as overwhelming favourites against Asian Games gold winner Japan in the semi-final of the Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament here on Tuesday.

The Manpreet Singh-led side’s confidence must be sky high as they had thrashed Japan 6-0 in their last round-robin match and come Tuesday, India would fancy another big win en route to the title clash. Having said that, India will need to guard against complacency as any slip-up could spoil all their hard work.