Indian eves beat Russia to qualify

India edged past Russia 1-0 in their last league match of the Hero Hockey World League Round 2 on Sunday and qualified for the next round.

The win put India on par with Japan on 13 points. But India topped the group because of more number of outright victories (4). Both the teams, however, qualified to the third round by virtue of being the top-two teams. 

At the Major Dhyan Chand National stadium, after a goalless first half against a team they had beaten 3-0 in the warm up match, India was given the lead by Rani Rampal in the 51st minute. 

The home team attacked mainly from the right flank but despite several penetrations, they could not open the account.

Despite dominating the first half, India could not convert their efforts into goals. The last few minutes of the first half saw Russia winning two quick penalty corners. But they, too, could not make the opportunities count.  The second session seemed to follow the pattern of first. Rampal then gave India the much needed breakthrough, when being fed by Sushila Chanu, she sounded the board with a firm strike.

Meanwhile,  Hockey India awarded Rs 1 lakh cash prize to Jaspreet for being adjudged the player of the tournament. 

She was also awarded Rs 2 lakh by the title sponsor Hero MotoCorp. 

Results: India: 1 (Rani Rampal 51st) bt Russia: 0; Kazakhstan: 4 (Natalya Gataulina 5th, Vera Domashneva 10th, 48th, Gulnara Imangaliyeva 63rd) bt Fiji: 0; Japan: 4 (Ayaka Nishimura 31st, Aki Mitsuhashi 45th, Akiko Kato 51st, Aya Ueda 55th) bt Malaysia: 0.

Individual awards: Top Goal Scorer: Rani Rampal (Ind). Player of the Tournament: Jaspreet Kaur (Ind). Best defender: Jaspreet Kaur (Ind). Best goalkeeper: Susana Mudunatagi (Fij). Best forward: Siti Rahmah Othman (Mas). Best midfielder: Sachimi Iwao (Jpn).