FIH Hockey Women’s Junior World Cup 2023: India beat Canada 12-0 in opener
Annu, Dipi Monika Toppo, Mumtaz Khan, Deepika Soreng and Neelam scored goals. The junior Indian women’s hockey team will play Germany next on Friday.
Hockey
India made a resounding start to their FIH Hockey Women’s Junior World Cup 2023 campaign with a commanding 12-0 win against Canada in their opening Pool C match in Santiago, Chile on Wednesday.
Annu (4’, 6', 39’), Dipi Monika Toppo (21’), Mumtaz Khan (26’, 41’, 54’, 60’), Deepika Soreng (34’, 50’, 54’) and Neelam (45’) were the goal scorers for Indian junior women’s hockey team.
A total of 16 teams are competing in the 10th edition of the FIH Hockey Women's Junior World Cup at the Centro Deportivo de Hockey Cesped. India are in Pool C with Canada, Germany and Belgium.
India began the match with an attacking approach, consistently pressuring Canada and swiftly securing an early advantage as Annu scored two early goals from penalty corners.
Despite taking a two-goal lead, India continued with their aggressive style, pushing Canada on the backfoot. However, the Indian team, led by Preeti, was unable to find more goals in the opening quarter as it ended 2-0 in their favour.
India carried the momentum from the first quarter into the second period. They maintained possession, consistently penetrating Canada’s circle and found the sustained pressure paid off with Dipi Monika Toppo and Mumtaz Khan netting a field goal each, further extending India's lead.
In the meantime, Canada won a penalty corner but were unable to make the most of it. As the first-half concluded, the Indian hockey team held a commanding 4-0 lead.
Despite having a healthy lead, the Indian team showed no signs of slowing down in the third quarter and continued to dominate the proceedings with Deepika Soreng converting a penalty corner following which Annu completed her hat-trick.
Mumtaz Khan scored her second goal of the match.Neelam then smashed home from a penalty corner to make it 8-0 for India as the penultimate quarter drew to a close.
The Indian team's pursuit for more goals persisted into the fourth quarter as Deepika Soreng and Mumtaz Khan scored two goals each to wrap up their respective hat-tricks and led India to a 12-0 win.
The Indian junior women’s hockey team will face last edition’s runner-ups Germany in their second match of the FIH Women’s Junior World Cup 2023 in the wee hours of Friday.