While much of the attention around the FIH Hockey World Cup Belgium & Netherlands 2026 has centered on the men’s tournament, India’s women’s hockey team has quietly put together one of its more compelling campaigns in recent memory. Sunday’s Pool E clash against Australia was the latest chapter in a run that has seen the team push right up to the edge of a semifinal spot, only to fall agonizingly short.
A Tense, Goalless Finish to the Group Stage
India needed a win over Australia to keep their semifinal hopes alive, while Australia only needed a draw to advance. Despite plenty of pressure late in the match, including India pulling their goalkeeper in the closing stages for an extra attacker, neither side could find the breakthrough, and the match finished 0-0 at Wagener Stadium in Amstelveen. With the Netherlands having already beaten China earlier in the day to confirm their place in the last four, the equation for India was simple heading into the match: nothing but a win would do. That breakthrough never came.
Both India and Australia ended up level on two points with an identical goal difference of minus two, but it was Australia who advanced to the semifinals alongside defending champions Netherlands, edging India out on goals scored. It’s the kind of fine margin that can define a tournament, and it left India to finish third in Pool E, just ahead of China on goal difference.
Speaking after the match, India captain Salima Tete didn’t sugarcoat the disappointment but struck a resilient note all the same. She acknowledged that the team had created chances but simply couldn’t finish them, and made clear that the World Cup campaign is far from over for India women’s hockey, with a fight still ahead to secure fifth place.
How India Got Here
To appreciate how close India came, it’s worth looking back at the road that got them to this point. The team opened their World Cup campaign with a hard-fought 2-2 draw against Olympic silver medalists China, a result that, given the run of play, arguably could have gone India’s way. They followed that up with their biggest-ever World Cup win, thrashing South Africa 6-1, with goals spread across the lineup from Sunelita Toppo, Navneet Kaur, Sushila Chanu, Deepika, Lalremsiami Hmarzote, and Sakshi Rana. India then closed out the opening group stage with a gritty, goalless draw against a higher-ranked England side, a defensive performance that sealed their place in the tournament’s second round without India ever tasting defeat in the first phase.
That unbeaten run through what many considered one of the toughest groups in the competition set up a difficult second-stage draw against Netherlands, Australia, and China. Facing the tournament hosts and four-time title contenders Netherlands in their opening second-round match, India fought hard but ultimately fell 2-0, with Yibbi Jansen striking inside the opening two minutes and Frederique Matla adding a second late in the match. That loss meant India’s fate rested on needing a win over Australia while also hoping the Netherlands would beat China, a scenario that required things to break just right.
What This Campaign Means for Indian Women’s Sports
Even with the semifinal dream now over, India’s run through this World Cup carries real significance. Ranked ninth in the world coming into the tournament, the Indian women’s hockey team went unbeaten through a brutal opening group and pushed a genuine title contender in Australia to the very last minute of their final pool match. For a program that has historically finished mid-table at World Cups, dating back to results like ninth-place finishes in 2010 and 2022, this campaign represents a tangible step forward.
This comes as women’s sports in India gains visibility and investment and a strong show on a global stage like this only adds to that momentum. Head coach Sjoerd Marijne’s side has shown throughout the tournament that they can compete physically and tactically with some of the best teams in the world, even if the finishing touch wasn’t always there when it mattered most.
What’s Next for India
India now shifts focus to the classification rounds, where they’ll compete for fifth place against the third-placed team from Pool F, determined after that pool’s matches conclude. It’s not the finish India were chasing when the tournament began, but as Tete’s comments suggest, there’s still real motivation left in this squad to close out the FIH Women’s World Cup on a high note.
For Indian hockey fans, the tournament has offered a mix of heartbreak and pride. The team came within a matter of goals scored of reaching the semifinals of a major global event, a reminder of how far the program has come and how much further it still hopes to go. With the men’s tournament running in parallel across Belgium and the Netherlands, India’s dual presence on the world stage this August underscores just how central hockey remains to the country’s sporting identity, even as the women’s side continues carving out its own distinct and increasingly impressive World Cup story.
