FIH Hockey Women’s National Cup : India defeated South Africa

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FIH Hockey Women’s National Cup : Eighth place globally With nine points, India took the lead in the group. In their previous matches, they had triumphed over Japan’s Asian Games rival Chile (3-1) and China (2-1).

India defeated South Africa 2-0 in the FIH Hockey Women’s National Cup to win their third straight match and take first place in their group. India has already qualified for the semifinals.

Gurjit Kaur and Deep Ekka Grace both scored goals for India against the South Africans in the 59th and 14th minutes, respectively, to end the pool B league match with a perfect record.

The eight-team competition is crucial for India since it implements a promotion-relegation system, where the winners will advance to the 2023–24 FIH Hockey Women’s Pro League, a crucial competition before the Asian Games and the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

India came out strong on offence to open the game, forcing South Africa to take a backseat and settle for opportunities to counterattack. The Indian forwards had many opportunities thanks to the play of Neha and Navneet Kaur in the middle and Lalremsiami and Sonika on the wings.

Navneet herself had two opportunities to fire, and she had plenty of time to do so, but South Africa’s talented young goalkeeper Anelle van Deventer put on yet another outstanding performance, stopping 7 attempts on goal from India, including a penalty stroke in the third quarter.

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Sports Desk