After defeating Pakistan 3-2 in a crucial pool A match in the Hero Asia Cup here on Thursday, Asian Games champions Japan qualified for the FIH Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup 2023 Bhubaneswar-Rourkela, India. With this win, Japan joined Malaysia and Korea as the third team to qualify for the World Cup. As the host nation India, who thrashed Indonesia 16-0 in a pool match on Thursday, had already qualified for the World Cup. With Japan, Malaysia and Korea are on-board, World Cup 2023 has now completed the 16 qualified teams for the continental showpiece event. At the Hero Asia Cup, which is currently taking place in Jakarta, a thrilling match between Japan and Pakistan, which ended 3-2 in Japan's favour, meant Japan joined Malaysia and Korea as the three teams to qualify for the World Cup.
"At the continental showpiece event, India, Japan, Malaysia and Korea have all won through to the top four of the competition, with the Super4s finals taking place over the weekend to decide the overall winner of the event. Our congratulations to all four teams on reaching the final and to the three teams who have now secured their places at the Men's World Cup," FIH said in a statement on Thursday. The other two teams making up the participating nations are the top ranked teams in Oceania, New Zealand and Australia. Here is the full list of participating nations: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, England, France, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain and Wales.