Miyuki Nakagawa scored twice to lead Japan to a 4-1 win over Azerbaijan Tuesday, putting the Japanese top of the table in the women’s hockey Olympics qualifiers.
Japan conceded their first goal of the tournament when Taejeong Han opened the scoring in the sixth minute.
But defender Ai Murakami pulled the team level with a penalty stroke in the 12th minute before Nakagawa put Japan ahead in the 23rd minute. Sachimi Iwao and Nakagawa added one more each to consolidate the victory.
With one more game left in the six-team round robin, Japan now lead with 10 points from three wins and a draw, followed by Azerbaijan on nine points, and Belarus and Chile on seven points.
The top two teams will face each other in the final, vying for the last ticket to London. Earlier in the day, Chile came back from a goal down to beat Malaysia 2-1, while Belarus defeated Austria 5-0 to keep their hopes alive in the last game of the day.