| Hockey World Cup: India ninth

Bhubaneswar: India finished ninth in the Hockey World Cup. India and Argentina shared the ninth position. India had the worst finish among World Cup host nations.

In the classification match, India beat South Africa 5-2 and Argentina beat Wales 6-0. Abhishek, Harmanpreet Singh, Shamsher Singh, Akshadeep Singh and Sukhjeet Singh scored for India. India took the lead in the fourth minute of the game through Abhishek. MVB Samkelo and Kasim Mustafa scored for South Africa. Japan and Chile finished in 15th place.

England finished fifth, Spain sixth and New Zealand seventh. South Korea is eighth. In the classification matches held yesterday, France beat Chile 4-2 and Malaysia beat Japan 3-2. Germany will face Belgium in the final today. Germany progressed by defeating Australia 4-3.

In the second semi-final, Belgium was defeated by Holland in a penalty shootout (3-2). The final is from 7 pm. Australia will face Holland in the losers final from 4.30 pm. Australia have won the World Cup in 1986, 2010 and 2014 seasons.