FIH Women's Hockey World Cup: India share spoils with China in second group match

This was the Indian hockey team’s second 1-1 draw at the FIH World Cup in as many matches. Vandana Katariya scored the equaliser.

3 minBy Ali Asgar Nalwala
WSP_8626-1
(International Hockey Federation (FIH))

The Indian women’s hockey team was held to a 1-1 draw by China in its second Pool B match of the FIH Women's Hockey World Cup 2022 at the Wagener Stadium in Amstelveen, the Netherlands, on Tuesday.

Zheng Jiali (25’) opened the scoring for China but Vandana Katariya (44’) equalised for India towards the end of the third quarter. 

With this draw, India are temporarily placed on top of the Pool B points table with two points from two games along with China. England, against whom India drew 1-1 on Sunday, will play their second game against New Zealand later in the day.

India, eighth in the world hockey rankings, were slow off the blocks against world No. 13 China but both teams failed to get a breakthrough in the first 15 minutes.

In the second quarter, India netted through Jyoti in the 23rd minute but the goal was disallowed after a Chinese referral showed the ball touching the Indian’s body before going into the goal.

India earned their first penalty corner of the match shortly but Gurjit Kaur’s low drag-flick was kicked away by Chinese goalkeeper Ping Liu.

With India starting to press forward and looking for more circle penetrations, China scored against the run of play to take a 1-0 lead.

Zhang Xindan split the Indian defence and found the stick of Zheng Jiali, who made no mistakes and slotted it past the Indian goalkeeper Savita Punia.

At the end of the first half, India had five shots on goal compared to China’s two but Janneke Schopman-coached India failed to capitalise on their chances.

China looked the better team in the third quarter but India mounted a comeback in the final 30 seconds of the period. 

Vandana Katariya, the most experienced player in the Indian side, deflected a low drag-flick past the Chinese goalkeeper and restored parity.

India began the final 15 minutes of play with more urgency but China remained compact defensively to eke out a 1-1 draw.

This was India’s fourth match against the Chinese team this year. The two teams faced each other at the Asia Cup bronze medal playoff which was won by India 2-0. In the FIH Hockey Pro League, India beat China 7-1 and 2-1 in their two meetings. 

India will play their final pool match against world No. 9 New Zealand on Thursday at the same venue. 

The top team from the group will directly qualify for the quarter-finals while second and third-placed teams will play cross-over matches with teams from other groups for a place in the quarters.

India’s best finish at the Women’s Hockey World Cup came at the inaugural edition in 1974 when they finished fourth. The last edition saw them bow out in the quarters.