Bengaluru, July 30: The Indian men's hockey team ended their Pool A engagements of Tokyo 2020 Olympics Games with a resounding 5-3 win over hosts Japan.
India had already assured of a quarterfinal berth after their win over Argentina in the penultimate Pool A tie.
In a high-scoring match at the Oi Hockey Stadium, 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.
#TeamIndia finish the pool stage with another thumping win over Japan.
— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) July 30, 2021
India, how's the josh? 🇮🇳#JPNvIND #HaiTayyar #IndiaKaGame #Tokyo2020 #TokyoTogether #StrongerTogether #HockeyInvites #WeAreTeamIndia #Hockey pic.twitter.com/WWzAYgzwNY
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.
In the round-of-eight clash, India will take on Great Britain, who finished third in Pool B
India had started their Tokyo 2020 campaign with a hard-fought 3-2 win against New Zealand.
That was followed by India's lone defeat -- a 1-7 drubbing -- at the hands of Australia.
That literally changed the tempo as India came firing back on all cylinders after that rout.
The Manpreet Singh-led squad bounced back quickly to notch back-to-back wins against Spain (3-0) and Argentina (3-1) which ensured them a round-of-eight berth.
Meanwhile, Punjab Sports Minister Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi announced that the hockey players from the state participating in the Tokyo 2020 Games would get Rs 2.25 crore each if the team wins a gold medal.
Earlier, an amount of Rs 2.25 crore had been announced to be given to the entire team if it won a gold. Sodhi, as per an official statement, said that out of total 20 players from Punjab, 11 players are giving their best in the Indian hockey team currently competing at the Japanese capital.
Tokyo 2020: Tournament is not over, there is so much left: Manpreet Singh
The men's team, who were one of the pre-tournament favourites, have raised further hopes of a medal by qualifying for the quarterfinals in Tokyo, winning four of their five league matches.
India last won an Olympic medal in hockey in 1980 when they won the last of their eight gold medals.