The Indian women’s hockey team kept its hopes alive of qualifying for the 2016 Rio Olympics as they defeated Italy in a penalty shoot-out in a classification match of the women’s Hockey World League (HWL) Semifinals on Thursday.
The13th ranked team prevailed 5-4 over 16th ranked Italy in the shoot-out of the first play-off match for the fifth to eighth positions, after both the teams were locked at 1-1 at the end of the full quota of 60 minutes.
India will play for the fifth and sixth spot on Saturday, where they will face the winner of the contest between hosts Belgium and Japan.
