Amsterdam: The Indian women went on a goal-scoring spree on Tuesday to rout South Africa 6-1 in their second fixture in the Women’s World Cup Hockey championship.
Having drawn 2-2 with Olympic silver-medallists China in their opening game, India vaulted to the top of Pool D with four points and a goal difference of +5.
Level with China on points, India will need at least a draw in their final pool engagement with England on August 20 to advance to the second phase of the tournament.
The most pleasing feature of India’s big win today was six different players scoring a goal each at the Wagener Hockey Stadium in Amstelveen.
Odisha youngster Sunelita Toppo handed India the lead in the 11th minute, coolly tapping the ball in from a Sakshi Rana assist.
Navneet Kaur’s drag-flick and Sushila Chanu’s mistimed hit fetched India two goals in the second quarter, and a 3-0 advantage at half-time.
The third quarter saw Indian women running riot with three goals.
The prolific Deepika finished off a move featuring Baljeet and Navneet in the 38th minute.
Lalremsiami then scored with a reverse hit in the 49th minute. Seconds later, Sakshi scored the goal of the match. After Ishika’s hit struck the upright, pounced on the rebound and sent it in with a stinging reverse-stick hit from the top of the D to make it 6-0.
India seemed to slow down a bit in the final quarter, and South Africa got a consolation goal minutes before the final hooter.
