Indian Women’s Hockey team defeated Spain 1-0 to win the inaugural FIH Nations Cup in Valencia on Saturday. The result also means that the Indian side has been promoted to the FIH Pro League 2023-24.
The Indian team, which won the bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, earlier, this year, took an early in the summit clash against the Spanish team when Gurjit Kaur found the bottom-right corner with her powerful drag flick following a penalty corner in the fifth minute. The girls couldn’t contain their emotions and celebrated beautifully.
Indian team promoted to the FIH Pro League 2023-24
The host nation tried hard and seemed to have broken the Indian defense, led by captain and goalkeeper Savita Punia, to find the equalizer in the 41st minute. However, the goal was disallowed. The Indian team was briefly reduced to 10 players as Udita, goa-lscorer in the semifinal against Ireland, was issued a green card (two-minute suspension) for a foul in the 45th minute but the Spanish team could not make use of the advantage.
In the last meeting between the two finalists, Spain had beaten the women in blue by the same scoreline at the FIH Women’s World Cup in July earlier this year. India ended the tournament with a perfect record of five wins in five matches. The Indian team beat Chile (3-1), Japan (2-1), and South Africa (2-0) in the group stage before a thrilling 2-1 win over Ireland in the penalty shootout in the semifinal.
India and Spain had played in the FIH women’s Hockey Pro League 2021-22 season as replacement teams after pull-outs by Australia and New Zealand due to COVID-19-related issues.
India had finished a creditable third in the 2021-22 FIH Pro League but they could not qualify for the 2022-23 Pro League season. Hockey India has announced a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh for every member of the squad and Rs 1 lakh each for all the support staff.
