Birmingham: Indian women's team beat Wales 3-1 on Saturday in their second successive win in Commonwealth Games 2022 hockey and rose to the top of Pool A with six points from two matches, IANS reported.
Vandana Katariya hit the nets twice in 26th and 48th minutes, while Gurjit Kaur scored in the 28th minute to bring a colourful victory for India. For Wales, Xenna Hughes scored in the 45th minute.
India started aggressively, after the confidence in hand from the last match. Women in blue earned a penalty corner in the first minute itself but couldn't finish it well. India kept their attacking tactics and penetrated the Welsh circle eight times. However, they couldn't finish their attempts in the first quarter.
In the second minute in the second quarter, India won a penalty again but couldn't finish then also. The deadlock was broken in the 26th minute.
After the 28th-minute increase in the lead, India started the second half with the same intensity, putting pressure on their opponents. But the Welsh defence thwarted a penalty corner India took in the 39th minute.
In the last minute of the third quarter, Wales scored, reducing India's lead to 2-1 through a penalty corner.
But Wales couldn't make many gains over India after that as India stormed further with Vandana's 48th-minute goal.
India is going to face England in the next Pool A match on August 2.