Hockey World Cup: India hopes to advance to the quarterfinals by defeating New Zealand

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• Jul 6, 2022 | Poonam Nath

Vandana scored off a rebound against England, but against China, she received a lovely deflection on Gurjit's flick to tie the score for India.

Digital Desk: To guarantee a direct entry into the FIH World Cup quarterfinals, an underwhelming Indian women's hockey team would need to win their final Pool B match here on Thursday against New Zealand.

The Indians, who finished a remarkable fourth in the Olympics last year, tied 1-1 in their opening two pool matches with bronze medalists from Tokyo, England, and China.

The Savita-led team is presently ranked third in Pool B, two points behind leaders New Zealand after their 3-1 victory over England on Tuesday. They are two points behind China.

The 16 teams are allocated into four pools per the tournament's format. The top four teams from each pool advance directly to the quarterfinals, while the teams who finished second and third participate in crossover matches.

In the crossovers, the second-placed team from Pool A will play against the third-place team from Pool D and vice versa for the final four quarterfinal spots, while the second-placed team from Pool B will face the third-place team from Pool C and vice versa.

In order to win Pool B, India would need to defeat New Zealand by an absolute score and hope that China drew or lost to England.

The space of the attacking line and midfield was lacking in both games, even though the Indian defence was impressive in both of them, denying England a single penalty corner in the first one.

No other striker has been able to live up to expectations thus far, with the likes of Lalremsiami, Sharmila Devi, and Navneet Kaur making tragic figures, except for Vandana Katariya, who scored both of India's goals.

The Indians did not lack opportunity; they simply did not seize those possibilities.

Another area of worry for head coach Janekke Schopman is the conversion of penalty corners since India only utilised two of the twelve earned in just two games, with both goals coming indirectly through Vandana's sticks.

If India is to advance far in the competition, Gurjit Kaur must improve her abilities and conversion rate.

In terms of standings, there isn't much separating the two teams because India is ranked one rung below New Zealand in ninth place.

On the other hand, the Black Sticks ladies would be overjoyed following their victory over England. Given that China and England are playing earlier on Thursday, both teams would have a good notion of the equations they require.

Also Read: Women's Hockey: India aims for payback against England in the opening match of WC