Tokyo, Jul 30 (PTI) The Indian men's hockey team registered a comprehensive 5-3 win over hosts Japan to cement its quarterfinal spot with a second-place finish in Pool A at the Olympics here on Friday.

Already assured of a quarterfinal berth going into the match, India scored through Gurjant Singh (17th, 56th), Harmanpreet Singh (13th), Shamsher Singh (34th) and Nilakanta Sharma (51st) to register their third consecutive win at the Oi Hockey Stadium.

By virtue of this win, India finished second in Pool A behind Australia with four victories out of five Games.

The Kookaburras ended their pool engagements on top with four wins and a draw.

India's lone defeat -- a 1-7 drubbing -- came at the hands of Australia.

The top four teams from each pool of six qualify for the quarterfinals.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)