India’s men’s and women’s teams continue to perform well in the ongoing FIH Hockey World Cup 2026 in Netherlands and Belgium. In both the World Cups going on simultaneously, the Indian teams have made it to the second round by showing good performance in the first round. A day after the men’s team reached the next round, the Indian women’s hockey team has also qualified for the second round. In its last pool match against England, the Indian team displayed a fighting spirit and eliminated the much stronger England by holding them to a 0-0 draw.
Both the teams faced each other in the Pool D match of the Women’s World Cup on Thursday, August 20 in Amstelveen, Netherlands. The Indian team had already made a good start in the tournament by holding the strongest team China to a 2-2 draw. Then in its next match, India defeated South Africa 6-1 in a one-sided manner and staked claim for the next round. But their last match against England was important, where both the teams had a chance to reach the next round.
Team India was already ahead of England with 4 points. In such a situation, if not a win then at least a draw was needed in this match. Team India tried to win but did not succeed. But the Indian team did not even allow England to succeed. The situation was such that the Indian team got 6 penalty corners, out of which it could not convert even one into a goal. But on the other hand, England got a total of 12 penalty corners and the Indian team did not allow them to score a goal either. Overall, the attack of both the teams did not look sharp.
But the benefit of this result went to Team India, which played all its 3 matches in Pool D and scored a total of 5 points and stood second. Whereas England could collect only 4 points and was out of the race for the semi-finals. In this pool, China secured first place with 7 points and made it to the next round along with India. Now Team India has to play 2 matches in the next round, where it will stake a claim for a place in the semi-finals.
