Hockey World Cup 2023: Team India won the last match, defeated Japan 8-0
India thrashed 2018 Asian Games gold medalist Japan 8-0 in their first match of the classification round. The eight teams that did not make it to the quarterfinals are battling it out for the 9th to 16th spots. India’s first match in this round was against Japan. In the match played at Rourkela, India crushed Japan 8-0.
After losing the crossover match against New Zealand and being out of the race for the quarter-finals, the Indian team performed brilliantly in this match and did not give any chance to Japan. India and Japan team could not score any goal in the first two quarters.
The score was 0-0 at halftime. In the second half i.e. third and fourth quarter, India scored goals. Captain Harmanpreet Singh and Abhishek scored two goals each for India. Whereas, Mandeep Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Manpreet Singh and Sukhjit Singh scored one goal each.
From the start of the third quarter, India continued to counter attack against Japan. Team India got the advantage of this in the 32nd minute, when Mandeep Singh scored on the penalty corner. In this way the Indian team went ahead 1-0. Three minutes later i.e. in the 35th minute, Abhishek scored the second goal for India. After this, in the 39th minute, Vivek Sagar Prasad put India ahead 3-0 with a stroke on the rebound at the penalty corner. Abhishek scored his second goal of the match and fourth for India in the 43rd minute.
In the opening minute of the fourth and final quarter, skipper Harmanpreet Singh scored a fine drag-flick from the penalty corner to put India ahead 5-0. After this, India scored three goals in the last three minutes. Former Indian hockey team captain Manpreet Singh scored the goal in the 58th minute.
At the same time, India got another penalty corner in the same minute. Skipper Harmanpreet converted it with a drag flick to put India ahead 7-0. Sukhjit Singh scored a goal in the 59th minute to put India ahead 8-0. Japan could not score any goal and Team India won 8-0.
With this win, India will now play matches for the 9th to 12th position classification. At the same time, Japan will have to play matches for the 13th to 16th places. With this victory, India also decided that this will not be the worst World Cup for the team. A loss against Japan would have forced the hosts to play the 13th-16th classification matches, but now the team will be in contention for the 9th to 12th places
Prior to this, 14 editions of the Hockey World Cup have been played. Of these, India’s worst performance was in the 1986 World Cup in London. Then the Indian was in 12th i.e. the last position. Another win in the classification match for the ninth to 12th places will give India a chance to break into the top-10.
