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The Indian men's hockey team, who are out of contention for a medal at the Hockey World Cup 2023, will take on Japan in a classification match at Rourkela on Thursday.
The hosts, who were considered to be possible title contenders ahead of the tournament, went down to New Zealand in a crossover game after failing to earn a direct ticket to the quarterfinals.
Graham Reid's team can now finish no higher than 9th in the sixteen-team event.
IND v JAP match preview and details
Date: 26th January 2023
Time: 7 PM IST
Harmanpreet Singh and co. will begin as the overwhelming favorites, having lost to Japan just once in the last 10 years.
Japan beat India 2-1 in the 2013 Men's Champions Trophy and lost 18 times in a row before registering a 5-3 win against their continental rivals in the Super 4's of the 2021 edition of the same tournament in Dhaka.
This followed a 6-0 win for the Indians in the group stages of the Asian Champions Trophy. In the interim, Harendra Singh's boys got past Samurai Japan in a group match at the 2018 Asian Games and twice during the Asian Champions Trophy the same year.
The Indians continued to assert their continental supremacy by beating Seigfried Aikman's team in the 2019 Azlan Shah Cup and during the 2019 FIH Series Finals,.
The overall head-to-head record is 26-3 in favor of the Indians with 3 matches being drawn.
The Seren Tanaka-led side lost all their matches at the ongoing Odisha World Cup after being placed in a virtual Group of Death alongside Belgium, Germany, and South Korea.
A 0-3 loss to Germany was followed by a narrow 1-2 defeat against neighbours South Korea in the group stages.
Japan then crashed to a massive 1-7 defeat to the Belgians when the defending champions were aiming to improve their goal difference to top the pool.
The Japanese, who were coached by Siegfried Aikman until the Tokyo Olympics, are now under the tutelage of Akira Takahashi, who is attempting to build a young and inexperienced side which consists of 10 players with less than 50 caps.
India vs Japan prediction for Hockey World Cup 2023
India 7 - 0 Japan
India vs Japan Hockey World Cup 2023 match Live Streaming details
India vs Japan Hockey World Cup match will take place on Sunday, January 26, 2023, at 7.00 pm IST.
Star Sports Network has acquired the broadcast rights for the 2023 FIH Hockey World Cup in India. The match will be live on Star Sports First, Star Sports Select 2 HD, Star Sports Select 2 SD, and on the Disney + Hotstar App across the Star Sports Network from 7:00 pm IST.
