India's winning form continued as they beat Malaysia 2-0 in their last Pool in a match held at Kakamigahara Kawasaki stadium. While the first quarter saw both teams play cautiously, with Malaysia laying defensive hockey and India threaded patiently without making any unforced errors that would bring advantage to Malaysia. Vandana Katariya (54th minute) and Gurjit Kaur (55th) scored for India's third successive win in the pool stage. The win ensured a quarter-final berth as India head the points table with nine points.
Malaysia put India on the back foot after ended the first quarter in a stalemate, when they won the first penalty corner of the match in the initial minutes of the second quarter. An alert Rajani Etimarpu however, made a brilliant save. The next few minutes were crucial where both teams traded penalty corners. While India earned one penalty corner, Malaysia were awarded two but they didn't lead to goals. Both sides played out evenly in the third quarter too. Another penalty corner won by Malaysia was not capitalised by them, ending the third quarter too in another stalemate.
India turned the match around in the fourth quarter, coming up with a strong finish. Forward Vandana Katariya scored a sensational field goal in the 54th minute to give India a 1-0 lead. In the following minute dragflicker Gurjit Kaur converted a penalty corner taking India's lead to 2-0. Though Malaysia won a penalty corner at the start of the fourth quarter, their poor conversion dented their hopes. Malaysians' desperate attempts were fought off valiantly by the Indian defence.
