The Indian hockey team beat hosts New Zealand 2-0 in the FIH Women’s Nations Cup 2025-26 final on Sunday to storm back into the Pro League only a year after relegation.
Navneet Kaur (4’) and Sunelita Toppo (15′) scored the goals for India, ninth in the world hockey rankings, against the world No. 10 New Zealand side at the North Harbour National Hockey Centre in Auckland to claim the title.
Lalremsiami Hmarzote won the Player of the Match award in the final, while Deepika finished as the joint-top scorer in the tournament with six goals to her name – sharing the honours with USA’s Ashley Sessa.
This is India’s second FIH Nations Cup title, having won the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2022.
After a tentative start, Navneet Kaur struck early for the visitors as the veteran striker converted the first penalty corner of the match to hand India the lead inside the opening five minutes.
With an early lead, the Indian women’s hockey team played with freedom and won four more penalty corners in the opening quarter and struck again from the final one of the lot. Sunelita Toppo deflected in a dragflick to hand India the two-goal advantage.
India thoroughly dominated the opening quarter, making eight circle penetrations and winning a total of five penalty corners.
The visitors’ intensity in attack was better in the second quarter but Salima Tete and Co. were still the dominant side in the period. India went into the half-time break with a 2-0 lead.
New Zealand raised their urgency in the third quarter and put up a more offensive front to try and claw their way back into the contest. However, the Indian defence held firm to ensure goalkeeper Bichu Devi Kharibam was relatively untroubled.
The Black Sticks finally earned their first penalty corner of the match early in the fourth quarter but failed to make it count. The match eventually ended 2-0 in India’s favour.
Winning the FIH Nations Cup earns India a promotion back into the FIH Pro League for the 2026-27 season, which will also double up as a LA 2028 Olympic qualifier for hockey.
The Indian team was relegated to the FIH Nations Cup after finishing at the bottom of the table in the 2024-25 season of the Pro League.
Interestingly, New Zealand were the defending FIH Women’s Nations Cup champions, having won the last edition but declined their promotion to the Pro League and vacated the spot for runners-up Ireland.
India went unbeaten in the FIH Nations Cup 2026, first topping their group with narrow one-goal wins over USA, Japan and Uruguay before dominating Chile 6-0 in the semi-finals to set up a title clash.
FIH Women’s Nations Cup 2025-26 standings
- India
- New Zealand
- USA
- Chile
- Korea
- Japan
- France
- Uruguay
FIH Women’s Nations Cup 2025-26 individual award winners
- Player of the tournament: Ashley Sessa (USA)
- Goalkeeper of the tournament: Grace O’Hanlon (NZL)
- Top scorer: Ashley Sessa (USA) & Deepika (IND)
- Young Player of the tournament: Riana Pho (NZL)
READ MORE: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/fih-nations-cup-2025-26-women-india-vs-new-zealand-final-match-report
