India, who had already been eliminated from the Hockey World Cup, upset the winner of the Asian Games, Japan, by eight goals to secure their spot. With their respective double goals, captain Harmanpreet Singh and the youthful striker Abhishek were instrumental in the victory.
India won the game with four goals in each of the third and fourth quarters after the first and second periods were scoreless. India feels relieved to have won after being ousted from the competition after losing the earlier cross over match against New Zealand. On Saturday, the competition for positions nine through twelve will pit the hosts against South Africa.
The goals by Harmanpreet Singh came in minutes 46 and 59. Each one came from a penalty corner. Up until yesterday’s game, the captain took the majority of India’s 26 penalty corners in the competition, but he was unable to net a single goal.
The game versus Wales, however, required a field goal to be made. The goals scored by Abhishek came in the 36th and 44th minutes. The final goals were scored in the following minutes by Mandeep Singh (33), Vivek Sagar Prasad (40), Manpreet Singh (59), and Sukhjeet Singh (60). India had 60% of the game’s possession in front of a large crowd at the Birsa Munda Stadium.
