In the 9th–16th Place Classification of the Men's FIH Hockey World Cup 2023, India thrashed Japan by 8-0 at Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium (Rourkela) on Thursday (26th January) night.
Though the hosts failed to score in the entire first half of the game, they were unstoppable in both the second-half quarters.
Brief match report: Japan vs India
Q1 (Final Scoreline): Japan 0 – India 0
Though the hosts India majorly dominated the opening quarter, including securing two penalty corners, they failed to open the scoreline.
Q2 (Final Scoreline): Japan 0 – India 0
The hosts’ solid defence denied any goal for Japan, who had some strong moments to affect the scoreline in that quarter. At the end of the quarter, both teams were still searching for their openers.
Half-time
Q3 (Final Scoreline): Japan 0 – India 4 (Mandeep Singh 33’; Abhishek 36’, 44’; Vivek Prasad 40’)
Finally, in the third minute of the third quarter, Mandeep Singh successfully converted a penalty corner to open Men in Blue’s account in the game.
In that quarter, Abhishek scored two amazing field goals, and in between those goals, Vivek Prasad added once from a penalty corner.
Q4 (Final Scoreline): Japan 0 – India 8 (Harmanpreet Singh 46’, 59’; Manpreet Singh 59’; Sukhjeet Singh 60’)
Captain Harmanpreet Singh started the last quarter strongly with a goal from a penalty corner in the first minute.
In the late moment of the quarter, Samurais conceded three more goals in the last two minutes, where Manpreet Singh claimed a field goal, and then Harmanpreet’s second goal, as well as Sukhjeet Singh’s first goal of the match, were successful conversions of penalty corners.
Full-time
Player of the Match award: Abhishek (India)
Other matches in the 9th–16th Place Classification
South Africa 6 (Brad Sherwood 9’,57’; Guy Morgan 17’; Nqobile Ntuli 26’; Keenan Horne 43’; Mustaphaa Cassiem 44’ – Malaysia 3 (Razie Rahim 35’,45’; Firhan Ashari 57’)
Wales 2(2) [Luke Hawker 10’; Gareth Furlong 23’] – France 2(1) [Corentin Sellier 15’,21’]
Chile 0 – Argentina 8 (Nicolás Della Torre 9’; Maico Casella 17’,34’; Lucas Toscani 19’; Bautista Capurro 23’; Nicolás Keenan 25’; Martín Ferreiro 51’; Tomas Domene 56’)
India’s next game in the Men's FIH Hockey World Cup 2023
The hosts India will end their journey in this tournament with their 9th–12th Place Classification encounter against South Africa at Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium (Rourkela) on Saturday (28th January) night.
Earlier on the same early evening at the same venue, Argentina will face Wales in the other schedule of the 9th–12th Place Classification.
