The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Santiago

India face a bruising battle against Great Britain here on Sunday if they are to preserve their record of having played in every Olympic Games men's field hockey tournament since 1928.

The two rivals are poised to meet in the play-off of the six-nation qualifying tournament with the British buoyed by their 3-2 win over eight-time gold medal winners India in the round-robin clash on Thursday.

Only the winner of Sunday's game will qualify for the Beijing Olympics in August.

Thursday's volatile clash led to three players being reprimanded for their behaviour by the tournament director.

India's Vickram Kanth received a yellow card after just six minutes and after studying video evidence, the player was further charged for deliberately using his elbow against a British player.

Teammate Gurbaz Singh was charged with deliberately following through with his stick striking a British player in the mouth in the 56th minute.

Britain's Simon Mantell, meanwhile, was involved in the same incident. After review of the video footage, he was charged for using abusive language and gestures to the Indian player.

"All three players were summoned to hearings, in the presence of their team representatives, and were strongly reprimanded for their actions," said a tournament spokesman.

"They were further advised that any further similar occurrence would result in a suspension."

Thursday's defeat, which was secured by a last-minute goal from Rob Moore, gave the British only their 10th win over the Asian giants.

India have won 24 and will desperate to make it 25 on Sunday when a defeat, according to many observers of the game, could signal the death knell for the men's game in the country.