South Africa came off the field battered and bruised after a tough match against the fleet-footed Japanese, but were elated at recording a 4-2 victory, one of their best results in several years.

South Africa attacked from the outset, using the classic tactic of attacking down the flanks. Their efforts were rewarded when they opened the scoring with a clever deflected penalty corner goal, Jennifer Wilson flinging herself full length to tap the ball past Ikuko Okamura. The cheers had hardly subsided, however, when a clever back flip from Mazuki Arai leveled the scores just seconds later.

Both sides continued to press for goals and there were several exciting goalmouth skirmishes. A different variation at South Africa's second penalty corner saw Tarryn Bright blasting home.

Two minutes into the second-half a goal from home-town favourite Farah Fredericks saw South Africa extend their lead.

Kate Woods, who celebrated her 28th birthday the previous day, extended the lead when her drag-flick from a penalty corner in the 57th minute.

After that SA seemed content to defend their lead, with the whole team on the defensive in support of Mariette Rix in the home goal.

With two minutes left on the clock Japan managed to pull a goal back. After Rix had warded off a penalty corner, the Japanese brought the ball back into the circle where Arai's deflection slid over the line.

The win ensured that South Africa will play in Pool C in the second stage of the tournament, guaranteeing them a top four placing. In addition, with Japan still likely to qualify with them, they will carry the points from today's match forward to the next stage.

In other matches played New Zealand got their tournament off in style with a 3-0 win over Spain. And Chile the lowest ranked team at the tournament, held on to force a goal-less draw with Azerbaijan.

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