Navneet’s late strike helps India beat Ireland 1-0

Tokyo, Jul 30 (PTI): Navneet Kaur scored a late winner as the Indian women’s hockey team kept its quarterfinals hopes alive in the Olympics with a 1-0 win over Ireland in a must-win penultimate pool match here on Friday.
After goal-less three quarters, which India completely dominated but failed to breach the Irish defence led by goalkeeper Ayeisha McFerran, Navneet finally found the back of the net in the 57th minute to bring smiles on the Indian faces.
Needing a win to keep their hopes alive after three consecutive losses, India had to wait anxiously for 57 minutes despite being the dominant team on display and creating innumerable scoring opportunities. India had chances galore from the opening whistle and got as many as 14 penalty corners but failed to utilise even a single one of them.
But a moment of brilliance from skipper Rani Rampal, who created the opportunity for Navneet, rescued India from an early exit from the Games. Navneet was at the right place at the right time to tap the ball in. India will now need to win their final Pool A match against South Africa on Saturday and hope for Ireland to face defeat at the hands of Great Britain to seal their quarterfinal berth. The top four teams from each pool qualify for the knockout stage. India started aggressively and penetrated Ireland circle innumerable times but, as has been the case in the tournament so far, the forward line lacked finishing.

India men whip Japan for fourth win

Tokyo: The Indian men’s hockey team registered a comprehensive 5-3 win over hosts Japan to cement its quarterfinal spot with a second-place finish in Pool A at the Olympics here on Friday. Already assured of a quarterfinal berth going into the match, India scored through Gurjant Singh (17th, 56th), Harmanpreet Singh (13th), Shamsher Singh (34th) and Nilakanta Sharma (51st) to register their third consecutive win at the Oi Hockey Stadium. By virtue of this win, India finished second in Pool A behind Australia with four victories out of five Games. The Kookaburras ended their pool engagements on top with four wins and a draw. India’s lone defeat — a 1-7 drubbing — came at the hands of Australia. The top four teams from each pool of six qualify for the quarterfinals.