All posts tagged: Sakshi Rana

Why Indian women’s hockey team have qualified for the World Cup even before semifinals at WC Qualifiers in Hyderabad

Why Indian women’s hockey team have qualified for the World Cup even before semifinals at WC Qualifiers in Hyderabad

Published by Parlour News

3 min readUpdated: Mar 11, 2026 11:37 PM IST India secured a dominant 4-1 victory against Wales in a Pool B clash at the women’s hockey World Cup Qualifiers in Hyderabad on Wednesday with Navneet Kaur scoring a hat-trick and Sakshi Rana impressing again, netting the opening goal. Navneet (29′, 34′, 55′) led the attack while Sakshi (7′)’s scored a superb early strike at the GMC Balayogi Hockey Ground. While India had secured a semi-final berth ahead of the fixture, the result ensured they finished as table-toppers. But, even further, India’s win against Wales ensured India have qualified for the Hockey World Cup. Here’s a quick explainer. What is the format for the Hockey World Cup Qualifiers? The teams in Hyderabad are divided into two pools, with England, Korea, Italy, and Austria in Pool A, while hosts India, Scotland, Uruguay, and Wales form Pool B. The winners of both semifinals — and the Bronze medal match — will secure automatic qualification for the World Cup. Additionally, the highest world-ranked team finishing fourth between the qualifiers …

Hockey: In Kukuda’s Sunelita Toppo and Sonepat’s Sakshi Rana, two teenage hopes for India’s future | Hockey News

Hockey: In Kukuda’s Sunelita Toppo and Sonepat’s Sakshi Rana, two teenage hopes for India’s future | Hockey News

Published by Webster

Sunelita Toppo is on the move, and four Germans are running to stop her. A pass is played in her direction from the right flank and even before it reaches her, the puny attacker is surrounded by the quartet in pink, each one at least a head taller than her. On the run, Sunelita opens up her body to receive the ball. In a single motion, she cuts left to eliminate one opponent, then shuffles to the right and changes direction to wrong-foot two more. It opens up enough space to thread a forward pass. Just like that, another raid on Germany’s defence was launched. For those fleeting few seconds, it was easy to forget that Sunelita was all of 17. By the time she’ll legally be an adult, Sunelita could well be a ‘veteran’ on the hockey field. Within a year of her debut at the age of 16, she has made more than two dozen international appearances. Story continues below this ad Like her, another 17-year-old has been turning heads over the last …

Jyoti Singh to lead Indian junior women’s hockey team for Europe tour

Published by Webster

Hockey India, on Monday, announced the Indian junior women’s hockey team that will tour Europe between 21st and 29th May. The team will play six matches across three nations against Belgium, Germany and Bredase Hockeyvereniging Push and Oranje Rood, two club teams in the Netherlands. The Indian Junior Women’s Hockey team will be playing matches in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands to work on their game and push beyond their limits in a bid to go on to dominate the game on the world stage. The team will be led by defender Jyoti Singh while midfielder Sakshi Rana has been named as her deputy. “There’s great camaraderie in the squad. All of us have gotten to know each other pretty well during the camp. Everyone here is very skilful and talented. It will be fun and a good learning experience playing abroad against other top-quality teams,” said Captain Jyoti Singh. Vice-Captain Sakshi Rana shared her Captain’s sentiments. She said, “Playing against good teams from other countries helps in developing an understanding of different approaches to …