Ritika
Rourkela. Struggling with poor form, skipper Harmanpreet Singh finally scored two goals as India thrashed Japan 8-0 in a formal qualification match at the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup on Thursday. India, who were out of the quarter-final race after losing the crossover match to New Zealand, put in their best but it was too late.
India scored four goals each in the third and fourth quarters. India now have to play South Africa in the 9th to 12th place match. Harmanpreet’s penalty corner strikes in the 46th and 59th minutes will give them a boost of confidence. He took most of the 26 penalty corners that India got before this match but the success percentage was very low.
Hockey World Cup 2023: India beat Japan 8-0 in the classification match at Birsa Munda Stadium in Rourkela.
— ANI (@ANI) January 26, 2023
For India, 23-year-old Abhishek also scored field goals in the 36th and 44th minutes. Apart from them, Mandeep Singh (33rd), Vivek Sagar Prasad (40th), Manpreet Singh (59th) and Sukhjit Singh (60th) scored the goals. No team could score in the first half.
India scored four goals in the third quarter and four in the fourth quarter as well. A large number of spectators were present to watch this match at Birsa Munda Stadium. India attacked fiercely in the first quarter and got two consecutive penalty corners in the 12th minute but Harmanpreet could not convert.
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Both the penalty corners awarded to Japan in the second quarter were wasted. Till half-time, India had 16 attacks on the opposition goal, while the Japanese team could only attack after nine but no team could score. Within three minutes of the third quarter, India scored the first goal on a penalty corner variation. Mandeep scored his first goal of the tournament after Amit Rohidas’s push. Three minutes later, Abhishek doubled India’s lead.
The third goal for India came from the sixth penalty corner. Prasad scored his first goal in the World Cup. Abhishek scored another goal in the last minute of the third quarter. Harmanpreet scored in the first minute of the fourth quarter. After this, Manpreet and Sukhjeet scored goals in the last minute. In other matches, South Africa beat Malaysia 6-3 while Wales beat France 2-1. Wales will face Argentina, who beat Chile 8-0. (agency)
