Time for cheer: The Indian girls’s workforce is a contented bunch after beating Germany within the classification match of the hockey World Cup on the Wagener Stadion in Amstelveen on Thursday.
| Photograph Credit score: x@TheHockeyIndia
Relevance for World Cup classification matches is a matter of perspective. For this Indian girls’s workforce, which suffered a heart-breaking exit in its push for a semifinal berth, a best-ever end because the inaugural 1974 version was at stake.
Having picked itself as much as go once more, this aspect earned itself a small piece of historical past by ending fifth with a 3-1 win over Germany right here on the Wagener Stadion on Thursday.
It was a counter-attacking clinic as objectives from Ishika and Navneet Kaur within the second half subdued the world no. 5 ranked aspect.
Beginning the event ranked ninth, Sjoerd Marijne’s India has exceeded expectations within the Netherlands, pulling off draws against China (ranked 4th), England (7th) and Australia (8th) so as to add to this end result.
It’s going to now head into the Asian Video games subsequent month, assured of difficult for the gold.
After a passive begin, Germany got here alive within the second quarter, making a number of circle entries with out threatening India’s aim. Nevertheless it was India which shaded Germany for makes an attempt on aim, when Navneet’s highly effective backhanded drive drew a save from Finja Starck. Salima Tete was alive to a few rebounds however Starck kicked them each out.
Germany continued to dominate possession for majority of the sport, however the Indian protection, which included event debutant, Lalthantluangi, held agency.
Then, in opposition to the run of play, India opened the scoring after Neha slipped a by means of ball for Ishika, who composed herself earlier than lifting the ball previous Starck for her first World Cup aim.
India discovered loads of pleasure by means of Germany’s centre, repeatedly catching its protection out on the counter. After having gone three video games with out a aim, India all of a sudden scored three within the area of 4 minutes.
After going chilly from PCs in earlier outings, Navneet struck from India’s second quick nook earlier than she added one other with a cool flick into the roof of the web from one other turnover.
Germany persevered within the final stretch with Savita Punia needing to drag off a few key saves, however she couldn’t hold out Lynn Krings’ effort with 67 seconds left on the clock.
The end result: India 3 (Ishika 42, Navneet Kaur 43-PC, 46) bt Germany 1 ( Lynn Krings 58).
Printed – August 27, 2026 09:35 pm IST
