India beat SA 5-2 to finish ninth

PTI

Rourkela, January 28

A dominant India scored twice in the first and fourth quarters to beat South Africa 5-2 in a classification match and finish joint ninth in the FIH Hockey World Cup here today.

World No. 6 India earned six penalty corners in the match and converted one, while South Africa got three but couldn’t convert any. India had 31 circle penetrations in total to South Africa’s 22.

With around 60 per cent ball possession, the home side had 14 shots on goal as against nine by South Africa.

Abhishek, who was named the Player of the Match, opened the scoring for India in the fifth minute before captain Harmanpreet Singh (12th) made it 2-0 from a PC.

The second quarter did not yield any goal even as India kept on attacking. Shamsher Singh (45th) scored late in the third quarter as Akashdeep Singh (48th) and Sukhjeet Singh rounded off the scoring (58th).

Elsewhere, Argentina thrashed Wales 6-0 to share the ninth spot with India, while Malaysia beat Japan 3-2 to end their campaign at joint 13th along with France, who emerged 4-2 winners over Chile.