Pakistan ran New Zealand ragged in their playoff and showed signs they are coming back from years in the doldrums with a 4-2 win, including three screaming penalties from drag flick expert Sohail Abbas.
Abbas, 29, is the top scorer so far at the Athens Olympics, adding 11 to take his tally to 261 - six off the world record of 267 held by Dutchman Paul Litjens. Abbas already holds the record of fastest player to have reached 100 and 200.
"I'm happy to have scored today but we expected to be on the medal stand so fifth place is still disappointing," Abbas said.
Eight-times Olympic champion, India, who have not won a medal since 1980, ended seventh with a 5-2 win over South Korea who took eighth place.
Britain played South Africa under the scorching midday sun, made all the worse by the fact that they drew 1-1 and had to play through extra time. Finally, Britain won a penalty shootout 4-3 and took ninth place with South Africa 10th.
At the bottom of the table, Egypt battled not to take home the wooden spoon. They managed to equalise twice against Argentina but two second-half goals from Mario Almada gave the South American side a 4-2 victory.
Results of Olympic hockey men's classification matches here Friday.
CLASSIFICATION MATCH 5-6:
Pakistan 4 New Zealand 2
SCORERS:
PAKISTAN: (Sohail Abbas 35pc, 47pc, 68pc, Kashif Jawwad 55)
NEW ZEALAND: (Gareth Brooks 16, Darren Smith 35pc)
CLASSIFICATION MATCH 7-8:
India 5 South Korea 2
SCORERS:
INDIA: (Gagan Ajit Singh 4, 11, Vikram Pillay 15, Prabhjot Singh 32, Adam Sinclair 68)
SOUTH KOREA: (Ji Seong-hwan 57pc, Kang Seong-jung 58pc)
CLASSIFICATION MATCH 9-10:
Britain 1 South Africa 1 after extra-time (Britain won 4-3 on penalties)
SCORERS:
BRITAIN: (Guy Fordham 43 (penalties - Ben Hawes, Graham Moodie, Brett Garrard, Danny Hall)
SOUTH AFRICA: ( Greg Nicol 45pc (penalties - Ian Symons, Gregg Clark, Greg Nicol).
CLASSIFICATION MATCH 11-12:
Argentina 4 Egypt 2
SCORERS:
ARGENTINA: (Carlos Retegui 20, Mario Almada 26pc, 48pc, 62)
EGYPT: (Mohamed El Sayed 21, Sameh Mohamed 43).