Indian men’s hockey team exhibited class and purpose again and defeated hosts Japan 5-3 to finish 2nd in the Group A and enter the quarter-finals. Australia have topped the group with 13 points in 5 matches.
The win versus Japan on Friday was India’s third consecutive at the Games. The Manpreet Singh-led side had defeated defending champions Argentina 3-1 on Thursday.
Gurjant Singh then scored early in the second quarter as India doubled their lead over the hosts. However, Japan came back with a goal as Tanaka opened the team’s account.
On Friday, both the teams showed caution in the beginning but the Manpreet Singh-led side broke the shackles and netted the first goal in the 13th minute.
In the third quarter, Kota Watanabe scored an equaliser but Shamsher Singh again put India on top as after netting in the the 34th minute. With India leading 3-2, a thrilling final quarter was on cards. In the final quarter, Nilakanta Sharma doubled India’s lead after a desperate attempt from both sides to find the net. Moments later, Gurjan scored again to make it 5-2 in favour of India.
Japan showed some spark towards the end and Kazuma Murata managed even a goal with less than one minute remaining but that was not enough for his side which failed to win a single match in their 5 group stage matches.
The quarter-final match will be played on Sunday.
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