Women’s Hockey World Cup Highlights, India vs England Hockey Match:Neha Goyal scored the first goal of the match in the 25th minute while Lily Owsley scored the equalizer for England in the 53rd minute.
Composed Lily Owsley scored the equalizer for England in the 53rd minute as the hosts drew India 1-1 in the Pool B opener of the Women’s Hockey World Cup at the Lee Valley Hockey & Tennis Centre, London on Saturday. After trailing 0-1 at half-time, England women came in with flurry of attacks in the third and the fourth quarters. The Indian defenders restricted England for the most part of the second half but ultimately gave up against resilient England attacks. For India, Neha Goyal was the lone scorer, netting the ball in the 25th minute. The England attackers controlled the ball for the most of the part in the final two quarters providing India almost negligible chance to extend their lead. A total of eight penalty corners were awarded to England throughout the game while India couldn’t even manage one. India will next take on World No.16 Ireland on 26 July followed by World No.7 US on 29 July in their group stage matches.
India’s previous appearance at the FIH World Cup was in 2010 when the event was held in Argentina. Rani then was the cynosure of India’s ninth-place performance as she had scored maximum of seven goals for the team during the course of the tournament. While there will be a lot riding on Rani during the World Cup 2018 too, she has a unit that has shown confidence-inspiring performance over the past two years where India even climbed to a career-best ranking of World No.10. After having arrived in London a week prior to the start of the tournament, the Indian Team has had good training sessions at the event venue Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Stadium including two practice matches against Australia and Belgium. “We have had good match practice against two of the top teams in the World. The team is upbeat and excited ahead of the first match and right now, our only focus is to do well against England. We have played USA and Ireland too in the past and have specific game plan against them. But for now, our focus is on the first match,” Rani said.
