Only Japan separate eves from final

Kazakhstan equalised two minutes later when an immobile goalkeeper Tingolima conceded a weak rebound off a shy by Lind Yelena and Mutallypova was lying in wait to pounce on the ball and sweep ithome. Thereafter, India tightened up considerably. Sita Gussain made it 2-1 with an indirect penalty corner conversion in the 19th minute, and then Pritam Thakran struck twice in the 21st and 31st as India crossed over with a healthy 4-1 advantage.

The second-half witnessed some quiet hockey with India content to hold possession and it was only late in the session they picked up the pace yet again. They forced two penalty corners both of which were brought to account, by Suraj Waikhom 28th and Sandeep Kaur 31 to close the match.

Later, Japan defeated China 2-1, a result which was considerably to India8217;s advantage. Keiko Mura and Toshie Tsukui struck for Japan after the Chinese had gone ahead with a goal by Huiping Yang. The league phase concludes on Wednesday and after a day8217;s break, the classification matches, involving only the top six teams, will come off on Thursday to arrive at the final standings.