Britain, gold medallists in 1988, scored two early goals to seal India's fate and win the six-team competition in Chile, which also featured the hosts, Austria, Russia and Mexico.

Ashley Jackson set up the first for Barry Middleton in the fourth minute and Richard Mantell flicked in the second in the 10th.

Forward Prabhjot Singh had two efforts blocked in quick succession as India, who won their last gold in 1980, tried to claw their way back and VR Raghunath then fired over from a rebound.

India, also beaten 3-2 by the same opponents in the round- robin stage, were unable to find a way through in the second half despite winning a flurry of penalty corners.

"We have been waiting for this for eight months," said Britain captain Ben Hawes.

It's ...a massive accomplishment for the team. After Thursday, when they played very well, we were aware we had to start quickly.

"The game opened up after the early goal and we weren't as nervous after that. We stayed very physical in the tackle, our technical game has improved a lot and we created chances."

China, Netherlands, South Korea, Canada, South Africa, Spain, Belarus, Pakistan and Australia qualified directly for the Beijing Games.

India missed out on an automatic berth after they failed to reach the 2006 Asian Games final.