Hockey World Cup: India outplay South Africa 5-2 to finish joint 9th 

Harpal Singh Bedi 

Rourkela, 28 January;  Hosts  India ended their much hyped Hockey World Cup campaign with 5-2   win over South Africa to finish  joint 9^th with Argentina at the Birsa Munda  Stadium here  tonight. 

 India played aggressive game and led 2–0 at half time. 

For the hosts the goal scorers were Abhishek (4^th Minute),Harmanpreet (12^th m Pc), Shamsher (44^th), Akashdeep (48^th) and  Sukhjeet (58^th).      Samkelo Mvimbi (48^th)  Cassiem Mustaphaa (59^th) scored for the South Africa 

India , who had beaten Japan 8-0 in their first classification match, opened on a fast paced and surged ahead in the 4^th minute through Abhishek and Harmanpreet converted  a penalty corner to make it 2-0. 

In the last minute of the third quarter Shamsher made it 3-0 for the hosts, striker Akashdeep singh increased the tally to 4-0 but immediately Samkelo Mvimbi made a solo thrust and caught the defence to reduce the margin. 

Two minutes before the final hooter Sukhjeet completed the tally for the hosts (5-1) but South African countered and were rewarded with a stroke and Cassiem Mustaphaa made no mistake in converting it (2-5). 

India could convert only one of the six penalty corners that were awarded to them .

India had finished 6^th in the last edition of the World Cup  (2018 )which was played in Bhubaneswar

 Earlier former Olympic champion Argentina trashed Wales 6-0 in a one sided match. The score liner is not the true reflection of the domination of the Latin Americans. 

There forwards missed several openings otherwise the score line would have been much higher. 

For the winners who led 3-0 at half time, the goal scorers were Martin Ferreiro (2)   Lucas Toscani, Augustine Bugallo, Santiago Tarazona , Maico Casella  (one each). 

 In the morning, Malaysia piped Asian Games champion Japan 3-2. 

In a well contested match, Malaysia took lead in the 7^th minute through Shello Silverius who converted a penalty corner.(1-0) However Japan drew parity 16 minutes later through Tanaka Kaito (1-1) 

Two- minute into the second session,  Japan captain Seren Tanaka  gave his side the lead  (2-1) but  it lasted   barely  a minute as  Shello  drew parity  with a super goal (2-2)  two minutes later  Shahmie Irfan Suhaimi  made it 3-2 for  Malaysia.  

The Asian Champions tried hard for the equalizer but the Malaysian crowded their citadel and manage to defend the solitary goal lead. 

  In another classification match France outpaced Chile 4-2. 

France dominated the match and took the lead in the 14^th minute through Eliot Curty (1-0)  Victor Charlet scored a brace converting two penalty corners in a space of one minute to make it  (3-0)  

Chile reduced the lead in the 312st minute through Franco Becerra who scored off the penalty corner (1-3). However, France sealed the match in therir favoure when in the 43^rd minute Gaspard Xavier scored a fine goal. 

Chile managed to score their second goal to reduce the margin in the 54^th minute through Andres Pizarro (2-4) 

As per the FIH release after the match, the eight teams involved in the classification matches wer placed joint 9^th, 11^th, 13^th and 15^th, 

Apart From India and Argentina who were declared joint 9^th,, South Africa and Wales (Joint  11^th) 

France /Malaysia (13^th) and Japan/Chile (15th)