Asian majors on minor list

They will now play for 5-8 places classification matches after finishing the five-match league engagements in fourth place with four points — ahead of South Africa and Argentina. The fourth-place finish means they will play the third-place holders in pool A, Pakistan, in their classification match on Wednesday. Even though India took the lead twice with Gagan Ajit Singh (33rd and 60th) scoring on both occasions, they hardly posed a threat to the Argentines, who must be ruing their missed opportunities.

After suffering the reverses, they came back strongly scoring from penalty corners through Matias Vila, who took the setpieces as expert George Lombi proved ineffective early on. Vila’s first strike came in the 53rd minute when he scored from the fifth penalty corner and followed it up with another in the last minute from another set piece.

But that was not enough to save Argentina, who finished eighth in the Sydney Games, from being relegated to play Egypt in the play-offs for 9-12 places. The Argentines, who were steamrolled by most teams in the competition, dominated today’s match for most part as India continued to struggle with their ball possession and trapping. The performance of the forwards was hardly any different from what it was in earlier matches as they came up with a sloppy display. Barring captain Dilip Tirkey, the defence was also far from impressive.

They must consider themselves lucky for taking home a point from the match.

Germany, Spain in semis

Meanwhile, Spain beat Egypt 3-0 and Germany drew 2-2 with South Korea to book their spots in the men’s hockey semi-finals at the Athens Olympics on Monday. Germany will now play the winner of the match between the Netherlands and Australia due later today. The loser of that match will play Spain. Earlier, New Zealand beat South Africa 4-1. They now go into the playoffs to decide places 5-12 along with Paksitan, who Pakistan toyed with Britain for a 8-2 verdict.