By Somya Panwar
The Indian women’s hockey team gained a spot in the Super 4s of the Women’s Asia Cup 2025 with style, defeating Singapore by a resounding 12-0 win in Hangzhou on Monday.
It was a heroic and a hat-trick day, as Navneet Kaur (14′, 20′, 28′) and Mumtaz Khan (2′, 32′, 39′) scored three each. Neha (11′, 38′) joined them with a brace to the total score, while Lalremsiami (13′), Udita (29′), Sharmila Devi (45′), and Rutuja Pisal (53′) scored too to seal one of India’s most one-sided wins in the championship.
India lost no time, and Mumtaz found the opening within two minutes with a powerful reverse-stick flick. The early goal set the tone, and Singapore struggled to keep pace. Neha pounced on a rebound in the 11th minute, Lalremsiami made it 3-0 two minutes later, and Navneet capitalized on a penalty corner to make it 4-0 by the end of the first quarter.
Singapore did tighten up their defence for a short while in the second quarter, but Navneet’s double and Udita’s calm finish from a penalty corner gave India a 7-0 half-time lead.
Lalremsiami perfectly set up Mumtaz for her second in the third quarter, before Neha scored her second. Mumtaz finished her hat-trick shortly, and Sharmila got her name on the scoreboard just before the end of the quarter, taking the lead to 11-0.
It was debutant Rutuja Pisal who was rewarded in the last few minutes with a clean deflection, finishing off a historic 12-0 thrashing.
With this one-sided victory, India have made a loud statement of intent to their competitors before the Super 4s, where they play the Pool A runners-up on September 10.