Russia beat Poland 3-2 to finish 5th in FIH Series Finals

Russia defeated Poland 3-2 in a hard-fought classification match to finish fifth at the FIH Series Finals here Friday. After a goalless first quarter, world no.22 Russia scored three field goals through Pavel Golubev (16th minute), Sergey Lepeshkin (22nd) and Marat Khairullin (36th) to emerge winners.

The 21st ranked Poland did try to make a comeback through goals from Michal Kasprzyk (30th) and Mikolaj Gumny (55th) but it eventually proved too little too late. It was Poland's second defeat against Russia in the tournament after losing by an identical margin in the pool stages.

While Russia finished fifth in the eight-team tournament, Poland had to contend with the sixth spot. The FIH Series Finals offer two spots in the FIH Olympic Qualifiers to be held in October-November this year.