BHUBANESWAR: India’s silent guns finally found some ammunition to fire as fans in Rourkela put the disappointment of team’s failure to reach the Men’s Hockey World Cup quarterfinals behind them to once again pack the stands at the gigantic Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium. And the Indian team responded in style to hammer the Asian Games champions Japan 8-0.
It was a game of many firsts for the home team that was pushed out of the title race by New Zealand in the crossovers.
As it happened: India vs Japan
Five of India’s eight goals came off penalty corners, including skipper Harmanpreet Singh’s drag-flick managing to beat a goalkeeper on a PC for the first time in the tournament. India’s PC conversion rate was the best in five matches — 5/12.
The team played like a giant woken up from its sleep, pounding Japan with a flurry of counter-attacks for the majority of 60 minutes, which had all: PCs, variations on PCs, fluid midfield and goals.
But the first 30 minutes had no goals in it.

Mandeep Singh’s off-the-ball running finally returned against the opposition he likes the most to score against. His was the first name in the list of goal-scorers, when he deflected neatly in a set-piece in the 33rd minute, which opened the floodgates.
The pattern of the game didn’t change thereafter — India attacked, Japan defended.
Abhishek (36th and 44th minute) and Harmanpreet (46th and 59th) pumped in two goals each, while Vivek Sagar Prasad (40th), Manpreet Singh (59th) and Sukheet Singh (60th) joined Mandeep to score one goal apiece.
India will now take on South Africa on Saturday in the 9th-place playoff.