Tokyo 2020: India women’s hockey suffer third straight defeat, go down 1-4 against Great Britain

India must win their remaining two group games to have a chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals as The Indians wasted chances galore as Hannah Martin (2nd and 19th minute), Lily Owsley (41st minute), Grace Balsdon (57th minute) scored for Great Britain to hand the reigning champions their second consecutive win in Pool A.

India was guilty of wasting opportunities in their first two games and the trend continued on Wednesday at the Oi Hockey Stadium as Great Britain punished them through strikes from Hannah Martin (2nd and 19th minute), Lily Owsley (41st minute), and Grace Balsdon (57th minute). This was Great Britain’s second consecutive win in Pool A.

Great Britain made a great start by taking advantage of poor defending by the Indian women's hockey team. The British players had managed to score their first goal in the second minute of the match to take a 1-0 lead in just 75 seconds into the match. Great Britain also won the women's hockey gold medal at the Rio Olympics.

The Indians slowly settled down and penetrated the Great Britain circle on more than one occasion but, as has been the case, the forward-line lacked the finishing touch. India earned their first real scoring chance in the 12th minute with back-to-back penalty corners but drag-flicker Gurjit Kaur was not up to the mark. The Indians need at least a point from this game to be safe but they now will have to win their remaining two matches to have any chance of qualifying for the knockout stage.

India had earlier lost 1-5 to world no.1 the Netherlands before slumping to a 0-2 defeat against Germany.

India will next play Ireland on Friday.