India setup title clash with hosts Spain in the FIH Hockey Women’s Nations Cup

India setup a title clash with hosts Spain in the FIH Hockey Women’s Nations Cup in Valencia late Saturday evening. While India edged past Ireland 2-1 in the shootout. Both teams were 1-all in regulation time. The Spanish team scored a 1-0 win over Asian Games champions Japan to stay on course for the title. The winner of the Women’s Nations Cup in Valencia will also qualify for the 2023-2024 edition of the FIH Pro League.

Both hosts Spain and India started the tournament on a positive note, winning all their league encounters, and were considered favorites for the title. However, the semifinal matches proved to be challenging for Spain as well as India. The final match will be played on Sunday.

In the first semifinal of the day, the Spanish team scored a 1-0 win over Japan. Sara Barrios, who scored for the hosts was awarded the player of the match award.

Trailing by a goal, Japan went all out but weren’t able to score an equalizer as the Spanish side were more defensive. Japan will play for the bronze medal match against Ireland.

In the second semifinal contest between India and Ireland, the former trailed for nearly half of the match as Irish goalkeeper Elizabeth Murphy did a good job under the bar.

Ireland scored in the closing stages of the first quarter. Down by a goal, India kept pushing hard. India earned as many as 11 penalty corners in the game but the Ireland goalkeeper did a commendable job under the post. However, she was beaten in the 44th minute penalty corner by Udita. India couldn’t find a winner and the game went into shootout.

Indian skipper Savita Punia showed her nerves and conceded just one goal out of five attempts during the shootout to seal India’s spot in the final.

India’s Navneet Kaur was awarded the player of the match award.

“It was difficult game against Ireland, especially conceding an early goal, but we kept fighting and got the win,” Navneet said in an interaction with the FIH website.