JAKARTA: Thailand chalked up their first win in Group B in the Asian Games here with a hard-fought 3-2 win over Kazakhstan at the GBK Hockey Stadium.
They completed the preliminary round with three points while Kazakhstan had lost all five matches.
The Thais will now face host Indonesia in the classification play-off for ninth place.
Kazakhstan will vie for 11th place against Hong Kong.
The Thais went on to the match with a better goal difference, but they needed to void defeat.
It was soon evident in the match that the Thais were a little better and they took their chances well to win the tie.
Bonrirak Harapan scored the opening goal in the third minute off a field attempt and this was followed by a penalty corner goal by Thanakrit Boon Art in the 17th minute.
The Thais went further ahead in the 22nd minute through another penalty corner taken by Seksit Samoechai.
The Thais were heading for an easy win.
But Kazakhstan staged a late fightback with Aman Yelunayev scoring in the 28th minute and Maxat ZhoKenbayev netting in the 51st minute.
Kazakhstan team failed to get a point off form the match despite the late fightback.