FIH Women’s Hockey World Cup: India hold England to goalless draw, advance to Round 2
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "FIH Women’s Hockey World Cup: India hold England to goalless draw, advance to Round 2")
India hold England to goalless draw Photograph: (Hockey India)
The draw gave India a crucial point, taking their tally to five and securing second place in the pool behind China, which earned them a spot in the next round.
India have advanced to the second round of the FIH Women’s Hockey World Cup 2026 after playing out a goalless draw against England in their final Pool D match. The result was enough for India to finish second in the pool behind China.
India knew that a draw would be enough to qualify, but they did not start the match with a defensive approach, as they earned three penalty corners in the first quarter but failed to score from any of them. They also created a few field-goal chances, but Ishika and Salima Tete could not find the net, according to ESPN.
England grew stronger as the match progressed. After an evenly fought second quarter, they dominated the third period. Similar to India’s opening match against China, they struggled to keep possession as England created repeated attacks and won several penalty corners. However, India’s defence remained strong.
India entered the final quarter knowing they needed to hold on for another 15 minutes to secure their place in the next round. Bichu Devi made key saves to deny England and secure the draw.
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India will now face the Netherlands in the opening match of the second pool phase on Friday evening.
With inputs from agencies
