India dominated on all fronts and defeated Thailand 9-0 in its fourth Pool A match at the Women’s Junior Asia Cup in Muscat, Oman on Thursday.
With the win, India secured a spot in the semifinal of the tournament and also sealed a spot in the FIH Junior World Cup 2025, to be held in Chile.
Deepika scored four goals and leads the scoring charts of the tournament with ten goals while Kanika Siwach, Lalrinpuii and Sakshi Rana also contributed to the tally.
India started the game strong and dominated the possession in the first quarter and created good chances. India received two penalty corners but couldn’t make them count as the quarter ended all square.
India found the opening goal early in the second quarter as Captain Jyoti Singh provided an assist to vice-captain Sakshi whose powerful shot from distance found the net. Moments later in the 23rd minute, India received its third penalty corner.
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The ball went to Kanika who scored from a brilliant dragflick to increase the advantage. India added another goal in the 25th minute as Kanika scored from another penalty corner to make it 3-0.
The fourth goal came soon in the 27th minute with a field goal by Lalrinpuii and the fifth came from Deepika in the 28th minute through a penalty corner.
The third quarter began with a penalty corner for India which was converted by Deepika. The top-scorer of the tournament scored another field goal in the 35th minute to complete her hat-trick. In the 40th minute, India played a string of good passes in the shooting circle and found the eighth goal with a close-range strike from Lalrinpuii.
Thailand did well to fend off India’s attacks in the fourth quarter but Deepika continued her scoring spree and bagged a field goal to end the game 9-0 and progress into the final four.
India will face Japan in the semifinal on December 14 for a spot in the final.