The Indian women’s hockey team overcame a stubborn Singapore defence to register a comfortable 7-0 win for their fifth consecutive victory in the Asian Games 2026 group stage at the Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium on Sunday.
Captain Salima Tete (17′) opened the scoring before Sunelita Toppo (22′, 24′) struck twice from penalty corners. Lalremsiami Hmarzote (26′), Rutuja Pisal (29′), Nikki Pradhan (35′) and Deepika Sehrawat (55′) completed the tally. rounded off the scoreline.
Having finished as the Asian Games 2026 hockey Pool B toppers, India, bronze medal winners from Hangzhou 2023, will now face the Republic of Korea in the semi-finals on Wednesday.
The Koreans defeated Malaysia 2-1 earlier in the day to secure the second spot in Pool A. The other semi-final will be played between the People’s Republic of China and Japan.
India’s dominant pool-stage show saw them finish with a whopping goal difference of +63 with wins over Uzbekistan, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand and Singapore.Their most competitive pool game was against hosts Japan, which ended in a hard-fought 3-1 victory.
India dominated possession and territory from the opening whistle and earned the first of their 27 penalty corners in the opening minute after Lalremsiami found the foot of a Singapore defender.
Deepika’s drag-flick, however, was deflected away. India continued to press and earned another PC in the second minute after a successful video referral, but Singapore’s defence stood firm.
The Singapore team defended in numbers and goalkeeper Felissa Lai proved difficult to beat.Â
India continued to create openings, with Ishika Chaudhary combining well with captain Salima Tete in the eighth minute, only for a timely interception to deny the Indian skipper.
The pressure finally told two minutes into the second quarter. Navneet Kaur’s first-time attempt off a cross was saved, but the rebound fell kindly to Salima Tete, who found a gap to put India 1-0 ahead in the 17th minute.
India quickly built momentum. A penalty corner in the 22nd minute resulted in a goalmouth scramble, with Sunelita applying the finishing touch from close range to double the advantage.
Two minutes later, Sunelita struck again, deflecting Deepika’s penalty corner flick after making a sharp run towards the near post.
India then made it 4-0 in the 26th minute when Deepika’s flick took a deflection off Lalremsiami’s stick and found the back of the net.
Three minutes later, a defensive lapse presented Rutuja with an opportunity, and she calmly lifted the ball past the goalkeeper to make it 5-0.
After a goalless opening quarter, India scored five times in the second to take a commanding lead into half-time.
India added a sixth in the 35th minute. Back-to-back penalty corners were not stopped cleanly, but Baljeet recovered the ball from the second attempt and kept the attack alive.
A subsequent goalmouth scramble ended with Nikki Pradhan pushing the ball over the line.
Singapore remained compact and continued to frustrate India through the third quarter. Lalremsiami came close twice in the 40th and 42nd minutes, but the goalkeeper dealt with both attempts.
The Singapore defence continued to hold firm in the final quarter, keeping India scoreless for the first 10 minutes. Deepika came close from another penalty corner, but her aerial attempt was palmed away.
India eventually found their seventh goal in the 55th minute. Deepika made no mistake from a penalty corner, finding the corner of the goal with a precise flick to make it 7-0.
Deepika had another opportunity from a PC a minute later but could not add to her tally.
Singapore then created their best chance of the match when Qian Xiao Kwek found herself one-on-one against India’s goalkeeper Bichu Devi after a turnover, but her attempt went wide.
At Aichi-Nagoya 2026, the hockey tournament doubles up as a qualifier for the LA 2028 Olympics, with the gold medal winners bagging a direct berth for the upcoming Summer Games.
