The last time Team India played at the Birsa Munda Stadium in Rourkela, they weren’t exactly all smiles after beating lowly-ranked Wales 4-2 and failing to top Pool ‘D’ to directly earn a quarter-final berth. On Thursday, when they return for their 9th-16th place classification match against World No. 18 Japan, they won’t be smiling again, having suffered an early exit from the competition after losing 4-5 via shootout to New Zealand on Sunday.

In fact, chief coach Graham Reid even turned down a request from the Indian media here for a match-eve press conference. That just goes to show that the Harmanpreet Singh-led side are still hurting from their premature exit. A defeat here could see India competing for the 13th-16th place match thereafter which will be their worst-ever position at a World Cup. Till date, across the 14 editions of the quadrennial event, India’s worst finish has been 12th and last in the 12-team competition at London in 1986.