Women’s Hockey World Cup 2022: India hunt for direct quarters spot with win over New Zealand-Sports News , Firstpost

A victory over New Zelaand could see India directly qualify for quarter-finals at Women’s Hockey World Cup 2022. Image: Hockey India

After two consecutive draws, India will be aiming for a win against New Zealand in their final Pool B encounter of the Women’s Hockey World Cup 2022 which will be played on Thursday at the Wagener Hockey Stadium in Amstelveen.

India held England to a 1-1 draw in their campaign opener before playing out a stalemate against China with the same scoreline. With two points from two matches, it’s do-or-die for India against table-leaders New Zealand as far as qualifying directly for the quarter-finals is concerned. Only top teams from the groups will qualify directly for the quarter-finals and a win over New Zealand should see India seal a spot in the last eight if China draw or lose against England.

New Zealand currently have four points from two matches. India and China both have two points each from two matches while England have one from the same number of matches. A second or third-place finish would see India play in the crossovers. The second team of Pool B will face the third of Pool C and vice versa.

While India will be aiming to qualify for the last eight directly, it is going to be a mammoth task. New Zealand defeated Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist England 3-1 in their opening game besides playing out a 2-2 draw in their second match.

“New Zealand have been in good form in this tournament so far. We will be watching videos to study the opposition and we hope to be prepared going into the contest. It will be a tough game, but we hope we can get a win in our corner to climb up in the pool table,” India vice-Captain Deep Grace Ekka said ahead of the match.

Meanwhile, India have struggled to take their chances in the two matches so far. Against England, India had seven penalty corners but only one resulted in a goal that also was a result of a rebound from Vandana Katariya. Against the lower-ranked China, India lacked fluency and only one out of five PCs fetched a goal. Once again it was Vandana who deflected a well-worked flick into the net.

Despite conceding first in both matches, India’s defence has been up to the mark. They did not even allow one PC to England in the entire match. It is the forward line that has been found wanting in the World Cup games so far.

With Rani Rampal missing the event due to fitness issues, India will be hoping for more from star players like Lalremsiami, Sharmila Devi and Navneet Kaur. PC expert Gurjit Kaur also needs to improve her accuracy.

“New Zealand will be a tough team to play again. They are very dangerous in their counterattack and we will have to be ready for that, on the ball we have to play to our strengths,” India head coach Janneke Schopman said previewing the Thursday encounter.

Interestingly, this will be the first match between India and New Zealand in five years. They last played against each other in May 2017. In the five-match Test series, India did not win a single game.

India vs New Zealand match will start at 11 pm IST and will be broadcast on Star Sports First and streamed on Disney+ Hotstar.

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