{"id":65378,"date":"2026-03-12T08:22:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T08:22:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/12\/navneet-kaur-hat-trick-powers-india-to-4-1-win-over-wales-in-hockey-world-cup-qualifiers\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T08:22:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T08:22:32","slug":"navneet-kaur-hat-trick-powers-india-to-4-1-win-over-wales-in-hockey-world-cup-qualifiers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/12\/navneet-kaur-hat-trick-powers-india-to-4-1-win-over-wales-in-hockey-world-cup-qualifiers\/","title":{"rendered":"Navneet Kaur Hat-Trick Powers India to 4\u20131 Win Over Wales in Hockey World Cup Qualifiers"},"content":{"rendered":"

A brilliant hat-trick by Navneet Kaur<\/strong> guided the India women’s national field hockey team<\/strong> to a commanding 4\u20131 victory<\/strong> over Wales women’s national field hockey team<\/strong> in a Pool B match of the Women’s Hockey World Cup Qualifiers<\/strong> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Navneet struck in the 29th, 34th and 55th minutes<\/strong>, while Sakshi Rana<\/strong> opened the scoring in the seventh minute at the GMC Balayogi Hockey Stadium<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Although India had already secured a semi-final berth before the match, the emphatic win ensured that the hosts finished top of the table in Pool B<\/strong>. India will now face Italy women’s national field hockey team<\/strong> on Friday for a place in the final.<\/p>\n

Early Dominance by India<\/h2>\n

India began the match with great intensity, displaying speed and sharp attacking moves in the opening quarter. Despite Wales employing a high press, the hosts managed to create early chances.<\/p>\n

The breakthrough came in the 7th minute<\/strong> when Salima Tete<\/strong> drove down the right flank and set up Sakshi Rana, who fired a powerful reverse hit from the edge of the circle to give India the lead.<\/p>\n

India nearly doubled their advantage soon after when Udita<\/strong> struck from a penalty corner, but the effort was cleared off the goal line.<\/p>\n

Navneet Takes Control<\/h2>\n

India maintained the momentum in the second quarter with a swift counterattack involving Navneet and Lalremsiami<\/strong>, but Welsh goalkeeper Ffion Horrell<\/strong> denied the chance.<\/p>\n

India\u2019s goalkeeper Bichu Devi<\/strong> also made an important save in the 25th minute, stopping Wales\u2019 first penalty corner of the match.<\/p>\n

The second goal arrived in the 29th minute<\/strong> when Navneet converted a penalty corner with a powerful low shot, doubling India\u2019s lead. Five minutes later, after Sakshi earned another penalty corner with a fine run, Navneet struck again to make it 3\u20130<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Wales Pull One Back<\/h2>\n

Wales managed to reduce the deficit in the 39th minute<\/strong> when Betsan Thomas<\/strong> capitalised on a brief defensive lapse and scored from a tight angle to bring the score to 3\u20131<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In the final quarter, Wales had an opportunity to close the gap when they were awarded a penalty stroke in the 50th minute<\/strong>, but captain Elizabeth Bingham<\/strong> missed the chance.<\/p>\n

Hat-Trick Seals Victory<\/h2>\n

Navneet completed her hat-trick in the 55th minute<\/strong>, calmly converting a penalty stroke to seal a convincing 4\u20131 win<\/strong> for India and underline the team\u2019s dominance in the tournament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A brilliant hat-trick by Navneet Kaur guided the India women’s national field hockey team to a commanding 4\u20131 victory over Wales women’s national field hockey team in a Pool B match of the Women’s Hockey World Cup Qualifiers on Wednesday. Navneet struck in the 29th, 34th and 55th minutes, while Sakshi Rana opened the scoring […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":65377,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,22,24],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-65378","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-international","8":"category-national","9":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}