India vs Japan, Hockey World Cup 2023 HIGHLIGHTS: India Hammer Japan 8-0 In Classification Match
India vs Japan, Hockey World Cup 2023: Mandeep Singh, Abhishek, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Harmanpreet Singh, Manpreet Singh and Sukhjeet Singh were the goalscorers for India against Japan on Thursday.
Background
The hopes of ending their title drought since 1975 may have been over for India but they would still want to finish on a high by winning their remaining fixtures at the Hockey World Cup staged at their home. The first of those matches will be against Asian rivals Japan at the Birsa Munda Stadium in Rourkela later this evening. The Men in Blue would want to secure a place in the 9/10th classification match on Thursday.
While a win against lower-ranked New Zealand would have given the Tokyo 2020 Bronze medallists a chance to play Belgium in the quarterfinals, a defeat there meant the hosts were eliminated from the title race. However, they would still be under pressure here in this match cause a slip up here could prove to be even more embarrassing for the home team as they will then see their worst-ever finish at a Hockey World Cup.
If India lose here to The Samurais, they would be playing the 13th-16th classification match and will finish lower than their previous worst finish of 12th at the 1986 World Cup in London- scenario they would not want especially when playing at their home.
India vs Japan- Head-to-head
Matches- 32
India- 26
Japan- 3
Draw- 3
Squads:
India: PR Sreejesh (gk), Krishna Pathak (gk), Armanpreet Singh, Surender Kumar, Harmanpreet Singh (Captain), Varun Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh (ruled out), Nilakanta Shar, Shamsher Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Akashdeep Singh, Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Abhishek, Sukhjeet Singh
Reserves: Rajkumar Pal, Jugraj Singh
Head Coach: Graham Reid
Japan: Koji Yamasaki, Shota Yamada, Yusuke Kawamura, Yamato Kawahara, Seren Tanaka (captain), Kentaro Fukuda, Taiki Takade, Takuma Niwa, Raiki Fujishima, Ken Nagayoshi, Hiro Saito, Ryosei Kato, Ryoma Ooka, Masaki Ohashi, Kaito Tanaka, Kisho Kuroda (gk), Masato Kobayashi, Takashi Yoshikawa(gk)
Reserves: Yuma Nagai, Hiromasa Ochiai
Head coach: Akira Takahashi
Good night
That brings us to the end of our coverage for this match. That's exactly the kind of win Indian fans would have been hoping for especially after their hopes shattered post a defeat to New Zealand. It should lift their morale. That's it from here for now. We will be back with more sporting coverage. Keep following ABP Live For the latest news from India and around the world. Good night.
Abhishek Gets The Player Of The Match
Abhishek Gets The Player Of The Match award for scoring a brace. Both of his goals were field goals coming in the 35th and the 43rd minutes of the match.
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