New Zealand thrash India 5-0 in women’s HWL Semi-Final  

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Antwerp (Belgium), June 23 (IANS) New Zealand marched to their second consecutive win in the ongoing women’s Hockey World League Semi-Finals beating a lacklustre India 5-0 here on Tuesday .

The win will give the New Zealand outfit a lot of confidence going into their match against Australia on Thursday, while India will have very little time to recover from such a horrendous outing to face Poland on Wednesday.

Like in their first game, New Zealand were quick off the blocks in the first half with forward Gemma Flynn giving her side the lead with an audacious overhead smash before striker Olivia Merry scrambled past the goalkeeper to double the lead in the second quarter.

Flynn grabbed her second goal of the game and sixth of the competition shortly after the break ahead of a quick-fire double from forward Kirsten Pearce in the 52nd and 56th minute of the game.

“It was another good performance by the girls and good to get another three points”, said New Zealand captain Anita Punt after the game.

“We have Australia next so that will be fun, but we have been trying not to think about that one up until this point as we needed to focus on the earlier matches.”

The only silver lining for India was defender Sushila Chanu Pukhrambamm who played her 100th international match on Tuesday.

After two matches, India remain without either a point or a goal in the competition, after losing their first match 0-1 against Belgium.


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