Indian eves go down to fancied Japan

 Indian women’s hockey team continued their disappointing show in the FIH World League Round 3 (Semifinals), losing 0-4 to Japan in a classification match here on Thursday.

Going by the rankings, the ninth-ranked Japanese started the match as favourites against India (12th) and as expected they streamrolled their opponents, scoring two goals in each half to book a berth for the fifth-sixth place play-off game.

Japan’s all fours goal came through field efforts.

It took the Japanese just two minutes to surge ahead through Ayaka Nishimura before Shiho Otsuka doubled their lead in the 18th minute.

Just 30 seconds into the second half, Otsuka scored her second goal of the day to give Japan a healthy 3-0 lead.

Japan made the scoreline 4-0 with yet another field goal coming from the sticks of Yuri Nagai.
The Indian eves are yet to secure a win in the tournament with their best result being the 1-1 draw against Belgium in the pool stages.

The Indian girls will now play either Belgium or China in the seven-eighth place classification match on Saturday.