India outclasses Wales – The Hindu

With a spot in the semifinals of the Qualifiers and, more importantly, in the 2026 FIH Women’s World Cup secured following Scotland’s victory over Uruguay earlier in the day, India produced a commanding display to defeat Wales 4-1 in the World Cup Qualifiers at the G.M.C. Balayogi Hockey Ground here on Wednesday.

The host nearly went ahead in the second minute. Sunelita Toppo latched onto Neha’s cross-field aerial shot on the left and found Lalremsiami in the circle, but the forward’s first touch let her down.

India continued to dominate, with Navneet and Lalremsiami linking well before goalkeeper Ffion Horrell rushed out to halt a promising counter. The breakthrough came soon after.

Wales failed to clear their lines in the face of sustained Indian pressure. Sakshi Rana pounced on the loose ball, shifted to her left and fired a powerful smash into the back of the net.

India kept pushing for a second, looking to settle the contest before the interval. The Welsh defence held firm for a while, relying on disciplined positioning and a few wayward Indian attempts to stay in the game.

But the Women in Blue doubled their advantage in the 29th minute. Navneet Kaur created space on the edge of the circle and struck hard, with the ball taking a deflection off Horrell’s pad before finding the net.

It capped a dominant first half for India, which registered 15 shots to Wales’ five – with five on target compared to the visitors’ solitary effort.

India kept its foot on the pedal after the break and added a third through a penalty corner, Navneet striking into the bottom corner.

A rare lapse in concentration helped Wales pull one back. Betsan Thomas stole the ball from Udita near the baseline, drove forward and squeezed her shot between Bichu Devi and the near post.

Navneet completed a hat-trick in the dying minutes of the contest, guiding a precision strike off the inside of the right post and into the net from a penalty corner she won.

The partisan crowd erupted at the final whistle as India finished atop Pool B and booked a semifinal clash with Italy. England and Scotland will face off in the other semifinal.

The results: England 2 (Grace Balsdon 20-pc, Holly Hunt 48) bt Austria 0; Italy 1 (Federica Carta 7-ps) drew with Korea 1 (Jiyun Choi 26-ps); Scotland 3 (Fiona Burnet 10-pc, Katherine Holdgate 43 & 58) bt Uruguay 1 (Teresa Viana 19-pc); India 4 (Sakshi Rana 7, Navneet Kaur 29, 34-pc & 55-ps) bt Wales 1 (Betsan Thomas 39).