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Olympic Hockey Qualifiers: India in semis at Ranchi
While the hosts in the women’s section – India and Spain – moved a step closer to a berth in the Paris Olympic Games, Japan and USA, too, reserved their spots in the semi-finals.
Indian Women will face Germany in their quest for an Olympic berth. / Image-X/@TheHockeyIndia
Goals were galore, so were surprises as the preliminary round of the FIH Olympic Hockey Qualifiers came to an end at Ranchi leading to the knockout round from which the top three teams will move to Paris.
While the hosts in the women’s section – India and Spain – moved a step closer to a berth in the Paris Olympic Games, Japan and USA, too, reserved their spots in the semi-finals.
India will next will take on mighty Germany while Japan will play USA. Indian team’s chief coach, Janneke Schopman said, “Germany has a lot of good players but we have a quality side that has shown they can do well under pressure. We are one game away from a spot in the Olympics. We will treat the Semi-Finals like a Final and give it our all.”
India needed a win desperately as the USA went on to record its third consecutive win in as many matches. The Americans defeated New Zealand to remain the only unbeaten team in the pool.
Indian girls, supported by a strong home crowd responded well by attempting a hot at the goal in the first 14 seconds and then taking the lead in the opening minute from its first penalty corner.
Though Italy responded well to the opening minute goal challenge, but it could not make much dent in the home team defence.
A majestic performance from Team India in front of a packed Ranchi crowd, we had to win this one to qualify for Semis.
— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) January 16, 2024
And the girls delivered in style!
An all-round display from the team takes us through to the Semis now, where we face Germany.
Here are some incredible… pic.twitter.com/8dKBOfF7Os
It was Udita’s day as she scored twice from penalty corners. The home team, however, conceded a penalty corner in the dying minutes of the game to end with a 5-1 win, its second and biggest win in the event so far.
These results mean the USA finish top of Pool B thanks to their 9 point haul. India qualify for the semi-finals in second on 6 points, with New Zealand missing out in third, on 3 points. Italy finish rock bottom of the Pool with 0 points.
German stalwart Anne Schröder celebrated her 200th cap with a 10-0 victory over Czechia and qualification to the semi-finals in the first action of the day. Despite stern Czech defence in the first quarter the Germans found their scoring boots from the second period onward, scoring freely throughout, with 5 field goals, 2 penalty strokes and 3 penalty corner strikes.
In the other match from Pool A Japan secured a semi-final berth with a 2-0 victory over Chile. Strikes in the first and second quarters did the damage for the Cherry Blossoms who put on a professional display in the final pool game.
Germany top Pool A in Ranchi with 7 points, with a plus 13 goal difference. Japan follow them into the semi-finals, also finishing on 7 points. Chile finished in 3rd place with 3 points while Czechia finished in 4th without registering a point.
The USA completed a perfect pool stage with 3 wins from 3 thanks to a 1-0 win over New Zealand. Elizabeth Yeager’s strike from a penalty corner was enough to seal the 3 points for the US – who progress to the semi-finals.
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