<
>

India qualify for Asian Champions Trophy 2024 semifinals with 13-0 win over Thailand

Deepika celebrates after scoring. Â©Adimazes/HockeyIndia

India beat Thailand 13-0 in the women's Asian Champions Trophy in Rajgir, Bihar to qualify for the semifinals, after an impressive attacking display.

Deepika scored five goals, including two dragflicks from penalty corners. There was a brace each for Preeti Dubey, Lalremsiami and Manisha Chauhan, and also goals for Beauty Dungdung and Navneet Kaur, as Harendra Singh's team piled on the goals against a Thailand side who had conceded 15 goals to China earlier in the competition.

India got off to the perfect start in the first quarter with a fierce reverse hit from Deepika in the third minute to give them the lead. Preeti and Lalremsiami added to that tally in the first 15 minutes, with finishes from close range, as the game already seemed to be beyond Thailand at the halfway point of the first half.

India scored two more in the second quarter. First, Deepika scored her second goal of the evening, with a lovely finish after having her back to goal. She somehow spun and lashed the ball into the top corner. Right at the end of the half, Udita's slap from a penalty corner led to a big goalmouth scramble, before Beauty eventually poked the ball home from close range.

In the second half, India scored four times from penalty corners, with Deepika converting two powerful dragflicks, and Manisha Chauhan adding one of her own. Lalremsiami also scored her second goal with a clever deflection from Udita's slap.

Preeti's second goal of the evening came after a lovely through ball from Vaishnavi Phalke, which allowed her to round the goalkeeper and then roll home into an empty net. Manisha scored a second goal which she mishit after going through one-on-one with the goalkeeper.

Navneet too got on the scoresheet with a powerful reverse hit that gave the Thai keeper no chance.

India will now face two stiff tests before the semifinals, with games against China and Japan, but this now seems to be a team riding high on confidence. Harendra would be most pleased with their finishing and their penalty corner conversions, which enabled them to score 13 goals even without their main goalscorer Sangita Kumari getting on the scoresheet.

You can relive the match right here: