South Africa’s second outing at the FIH Hockey Women’s World Cup ended in defeat as a clinical India side claimed a 6-1 victory at the Wagener Stadium in Amstelveen on Tuesday afternoon.
The game marked the 50th test appearance for Taheera Augousti. The African champions headed into the encounter looking for a response following their opening defeat against England, but found an Indian side in ruthless attacking form, with six different players finding the back of the net.
India made the brighter start and were rewarded in the 11th minute. A scrappy move down the left eventually saw Sakshi Rana’s effort make its way across the circle, where Sunelita Toppo reacted quickest to steer the ball home at the far post and open the scoring.
The advantage was doubled early in the second quarter through Navneet Kaur. From a penalty corner variation, the experienced attacker fired a powerful low effort through the South African defensive line to make it 2-0 in the 18th minute.
India’s penalty corner pressure continued and, after South Africa had initially survived a succession of set pieces, Sushila Chanu reacted quickest when Deepika’s drag flick was blocked by the first runner. Her follow-up found its way into the goal in the 25th minute, giving India a commanding 3-0 advantage at the half-time break.
South Africa emerged from the interval with greater attacking intent and looked to establish themselves higher up the field, but India struck again in the 38th minute. Deepika produced an outstanding reverse-stick finish after good work down the left to stretch the lead to four.
The decisive period arrived late in the third quarter. Lalremsiami made it 5-0 with a powerful reverse-stick strike before Sakshi Rana reacted fastest to a rebound off the post to add a sixth as India turned their advantage into an imposing one heading into the final quarter.
Despite the difficult scoreline, South Africa continued searching for a breakthrough and were rewarded in the 55th minute. From a penalty corner, Hannah Pearce’s drag flick took a deflection off the Indian first runner and fell invitingly for Kayla de Waal,whoshowed excellent awareness to touch the ball home from close range. The goal survived an Indian referral and gave South Africa their first goal of the tournament.
India saw out the remaining minutes to secure the 6-1 victory, a result which takes them to four points in Pool D alongside China. Earlier in the day China defeated England 4-2, meaning South Africa can no longer finish inside the top two positions in the pool.
For South Africa, attention now turns to their final Pool D encounter against China on Thursday, 20 August at 09:30, where the African champions will look to produce a response and take momentum into the classification phase of the competition.
