India stormed into the quarterfinals of the 14th edition of the women’s World Cup with a 3-0 win over Italy at the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre on Tuesday.
Lalremsiami put the team ahead in the ninth minute through a field goal before Neha Goyal made it 2-0 in the 45th minute through a penalty corner. Vandana Katariya put the issue beyond doubt nine minutes later through another penalty corner strike. The margin would have been bigger had the Indians capitalised on the numerous penalty corners they earned throughout the contest.
Fortunately, Italy did not have the firepower to punish a wasteful India. The Indian women will now take on Ireland in the last-eight clash on August 2 (Thursday).
It will be a revenge match as the team had suffered a 1-0 reverse in the Pool B game earlier in the tournament.
India had fought its way into the knockout round after drawing the opening game 1-1 against England and also knocking out the might United States with another 1-1 stalemate.
Italy, on the other hand, had had a smooth journey, having defeated China 3-0 and Korea 1-0 in its first two matches.
However, it had suffered an embarrassing 12-1 defeat against defending champion Netherlands. With their morale taking a beating, the Italians couldn’t match the Indians on this day.
