India ended their campaign at the 2026 FIH Women’s Hockey World Cup Qualifier in Hyderabad as runners-up. The team lost against England in the final match by a score of 0-2 played on Saturday, March 14. Grace Balsdon and Elizabeth Neal were the successful goal scorers of England.
Navneet Kaur got India a headstart in the opening two minutes of the game through a penalty corner but her drag flick was denied by the England goalkeeper. India were strong in their attempt, had a solid defense, got inroads on the end of the field and were quite disabling in the gameplay. Towards the end of the first quarter England emerged up by earning a penalty corner.
With two minutes to end in that quarter, Balsdon successfully finds the net and scores with her drag flick giving England the lead over India. This was also her fifth goal resulting from a penalty corner in the tournament.
The second quarter saw a much similar view with both the teams going strong-headed into the match while not giving any opportunity to each other to score. India earned eight circle penetrations in the first half of the second quarter going against the England defence. Meanwhile, the England goalkeeper tried her best to keep her team with the lead till half time, maintaining their possession.
Going ahead into the game, India got few more opportunities but England were firm on their part leading to their advantage and adding another goal from their midfielder Neal. She earned her effort going past India’s defense and Bichu Devi. By the end of third quarter, England got the lead at 2-0.
India, however, continued to strike back finding their search for a goal to earn their chance back into the game. But the match ended in England’s favor who maintained their form until the end giving India no scope or opportunity to score.
In the final minutes of the last quarter, India got a penalty corner but it was too late as they failed to find any scores and lost the match with zero points scored against England.
Earlier in the contest, the Indian women’s team defeated Italy by 1-0 in the 2026 FIH Hockey Women’s World Cup Qualifiers in Hyderabad after winning the semi-finals match. They secured their spot in the finals match as Manisha Chauhan was the key player for India in that match.
