FIH Women's Nations Cup 2022: India beat South Africa 2-0 to stay on the winning track

Ekka Deep Grace in the 14th minute and Gurjit Kaur in the 59th minute were the goalscorers for India, while none of the South African players could score.

The Indian side had firm control of the ball and got off to an attacking start in the first quarter against South Africa, just like in their first two group-stage clashes.

Deep Grace opened the scoring for India in the ending moments of the first quarter as youngster Salima Tete won a penalty corner. She slotted the ball behind South African goalkeeper Anelle van Deventer to make it 1-0.

India continued with their attacking momentum in the second half, but van Deventer made three saves to prevent the Indian side from further widening their lead. 

Gurjit Kaur got a fantastic opportunity to increase the lead for India after they won a penalty corner, but her shot went off the post. The second quarter ended without any goals scored.

The Indian women maintained control of the ball and began hunting for more opportunities to break into the South African circle. Chanu Pukhrambam and Navneet Kaur got a few options to score but failed to break past van Deventer.

India failed to find the back of the net once again as Sonika missed the shot after receiving the ball inside the circle. They won consecutive penalty corners in the dying minutes of the final quarter. Gurjit Kaur took the shot with just one minute left on the clock to help secure a 2-0 victory for the Indian side.

After the victory, the player of the match, Deep Grace, said, "Penalty corners were something we talked about and practised a lot before this game because we had not executed them the way we wanted to in the first two games."

India finish the group stage of Pool B with nine points from three games. They will next lock horns with Ireland in a semifinal clash of the FIH Women's Nations Cup on December 16.