India enter junior women’s World Cup semifinals

NEW DELHI: In what could be called a Chak De! moment for Indian hockey, a bunch of young girls on Thursday made the country proud by reaching the semifinals of the junior women’s World Cup in Monchengladbach, Germany.

When they came from behind twice to beat the more-fancied Spain 4-2 in the quarterfinal, they become the first Indian junior women’s team to reach the semifinal of the tournament.

Many would have given up on the girls after their 1-6 loss against Australia in their first match of the event. But they bounced back in style, winning the next two matches to book their berth in the quarterfinals, also a first by the team.

The win over Spain ensured a top-four finish for India in the tournament – their earlier best being ninth in 2001 as well as in 2009. India will meet the Netherlands in the semifinal.

“This is amazing. It is a great day for hockey in India. I knew that we will win if we keep up the pressure,” an elated vice-captain and one of the goal scorers, Rani said after the match.

Spain drew the first blood when they scored from an early penalty corner, but India immediately equalized through Monika. Spain went ahead again with another strike five minutes before the half-time.

This lead too did not last long as Navneet Kaur’s outstanding reverse stick shot levelled the score before the break. India scored two more in the second half, through MN Ponnamma and Rani, to ensure their progress to the semifinal.

“Today’s key was the spirit. And we played fast throughout the game. We are very excited now as we had never reached the semifinals before. Of course, we would love to make it to the final,” said captain Sushila Chanu.

Coach Neil Hawgood attributed the win to the lessons learnt from the losses at the World League semifinals in Rotterdam where India finished seventh out of eight teams. “The success has come from all the big losses we had in the World League Round 3. The girls were a bit nervous at the beginning but they showed character and worked hard for 70 minutes,” Hawgood was quoted as saying.