India had a massive 8-0 victory over Japan in classification match
Under-fire captain Harmanpreet Singh finally delivered on his drag flick, scoring a brace each as India defeated Asian Games winners Japan 8-0 in an insignificant FIH Men’s World Cup classification match on Thursday.
India, who had been eliminated from the competition after losing to New Zealand in their crossover match, played their greatest game of the tournament, although it came too late in the tournament.
The hosts, who scored four goals in the third and fourth quarters, will face South Africa in the ninth-to-twelfth-place match on Saturday.
Harmanpreet (46th and 59th minutes) scored twice from penalty corners in the fourth quarter, which should improve his confidence following several failures with his drag flick during the competition. Prior to Thursday’s classification match, he had taken the most of India’s 26 PCs.
He also grabbed the majority of India’s 11 PCs on Thursday.
He had previously scored with a drag flick in the final stages of the Pool D encounter against Wales, but it was after the opponents had taken out the goalkeeper in favour of an outfield player.
Abhishek, a 23-year-old known only by his first name, scored two field goals in the 36th and 44th minutes, while Mandeep Singh (33rd), Vivek Sagar Prasad (40th), Manpreet Singh (59th), and Sukhjeet Singh (60th) all scored for India.
After a scoreless first half, India scored four goals in the third quarter and four more in the fourth in a lopsided contest in which the hosts controlled more than 60% of the possession.
The Birsa Munda Stadium was packed to capacity for the classification match, and the spectators were treated to the home team’s most convincing victory of the tournament.
Irish Samachar English News
Kindly click the link below to join WhatsApp group chat to get important news and breaking news from Irish Samachar.
Comments are closed.