(Image source from: sports.ndtv.com)

While the entire country was looking up to the Indian Women’s Hockey team in their qualifier match against USA, they proved themselves worthy and won the FIH qualifier by beating the US team by a score of 5-1.

The Indian team has secured one foot into the Tokyo Olympics next year with their win in the qualifier round that happened on November 01st, 2019 at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.

The team made a record of 4 goals in just 11 minutes after the half time and killed the tie and Gurjeet Kaur scored a brace.

In the 54th minute, Erin Manson scored a consolation goal for the US team from a penalty stroke. The team did get a number of opportunities to back in the deficit during the dying minutes of the game but the Indian team was quick enough to not let them take over and hence made their way through to the Tokyo Olympics.

In the second qualifier game which is going to be on November 02nd, 2019 on Saturday will need some form of miracle for the US team to fight back the loss they have endured in the first game.

India did begin with a high press game but US team was not able to take the chances that came their way and kept on missing them which led to the loss that they faced.

During the second quarter, US did get a lucky escape when Lalremsiami hit the cross from the left towards Sharmila at the far post. The winger mentioned wasn’t able to get their on time and hence the lucky escape that they faced.

The US Team also got a number of penalty shot chances which they could have secured some wins for them but the Indian defence was on point, not letting them break through the run of play. It was during the 29th minute in the game that the Indian team took on their lead.

The Indian team also secured their fair share of penalty and it was Sharmila who worked the ball away to Neha Goyal who then passed it on to Lilima Minz who was responsible for hitting home.

India led the match by 1-0 by halftime. The situation for the US team became worse when the Indian team scored two goals in succession after the half time. Sharmila Devi was the one who secured the second goal in the 40th minute in the game after getting the clear.

The next goal was secured by Gurjit who took over on the fourth attempt as India started pulling away. It was during the 46th minute of the game that Navneet Kaur took over the space given by Salima Tete and she secures the 4th goal for the Indian team. Later, Gurjit was again successful in scoring another winning goal during a penalty shot making the score 5-1.

As per the rules suggested, the team with the highest number of goals from the two qualifiers will be the one heading on to the Tokyo Olympics to then compete for the final rounds. If there is a tie between the team by any chance, there will be a penalty shootout during the FIH qualifiers again to decide what team qualifies in the FIH qualifiers.

-Somapika Dutta