India's Vandana Katariya (16) , left and Wales' Xenna Hughes challenge vie for the ball during the pool A women's hockey match between India and Wales at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, Saturday, July 30, 2022 | Photo: AP
Birmingham: The Indian Women's Hockey Team beat Wales 3-1 to register their second consecutive win at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games on Saturday.
With this win, India rises to the top of Pool A with six points in two matches.
Vandana Katariya (26', 48') starred with a brace, while Gurjit Kaur (28') scored a goal for India. Whereas, Xenna Hughes (45') got on the scoresheet for Wales.
Riding high on confidence, India started aggressively, earning themselves a Penalty Corner in the very first minute of the match. But they missed out on taking an early lead due to a weak Penalty Corner execution.
India continued their attacking instinct and went on to ran riot into the Welsh circle with as many as eight penetrations, creating various goalscoring opportunities. But, they couldn't find a way to get on board in the first quarter.
India continued to put pressure on Wales and earned a Penalty Corner in the second minute of the second quarter. But the Welsh defence unit stood tall to deny them from scoring. Despite missing out on opportunities, India remained patient in their approach and were rewarded for their effort as experienced striker Vandana broke the deadlock in the 26th minute.
Vandana successfully deflected Gurjit's attempt at the Penalty Corner. Gurjit went on to double India's lead from Penalty Corner in the 28th minute of the match.
Leading by 2-0, India started the second half with the same intensity and continued to pile pressure on their opponents. They even earned a PC in the 39th minute of the match, but the Welsh defence remained resolute and kept Indians at bay.
Wales, not giving up easily, got rewarded for their efforts and reduced the deficit to 2-1 at the end of the third quarter. It was Xenna Hughes who converted the Penalty Corner in the last minute of the third quarter.
India started the final quarter with the same attacking instinct and went on to extend their lead to 3-1 through Vandana (48'), who yet again smartly deflected the ball from close range through Monika's attempt at PC. In their bid to make the scoreline 4-1, India went on to dominate the latter stage of the final quarter and created various goalscoring opportunities, but couldn't make much of it.
(ANI)
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