Moqi, Sep 10: Defending champions India produced a stunning attacking display to thrash Pakistan 19-0 and storm into the semifinals of the 2026 Women’s Junior Asia Cup here on Thursday.
India dominated from the opening whistle, scoring five goals in the first quarter, five in the second, three in the third and six in the final quarter to register a comprehensive victory.
Pooja Sahoo opened the scoring in the seventh minute by converting a penalty corner after an earlier Indian goal had been disallowed following a referral.
Roshni Aind doubled India’s advantage two minutes later before Tanushree Dinesh Kadu and Sukhveer Kaur added further goals. Sanika Chandrakant Mane then made it 5-0 at the end of the opening quarter.
India continued their relentless pressure in the second quarter, with Madhu Sidar, Geeta Yadav, Mane, Tanuja Toppo and Pooja Malik finding the net to give the defending champions a commanding 10-0 lead at half-time.
There was no let-up after the break as Purnima Yadav, Sidar and Supriya added three more goals in the third quarter.
India then produced another six-goal blitz in the final 15 minutes. Krishna Sharma, Malik, Supriya, Binima Dhan and Aind were among the scorers, with Malik completing her hat-trick during the onslaught.
India’s dominance was reflected in the statistics as they earned 18 penalty corners and one penalty stroke, while Pakistan failed to win even a penalty corner or penalty stroke throughout the contest.
India had earlier defeated Japan, Malaysia and South Korea to finish top of their group and will now face the winner of the South Korea-Malaysia quarterfinal in the semifinal on September 12.
The victory keeps India on course for a hat-trick of Women’s Junior Asia Cup titles. They had won the championship in 2023 and 2024.
With the emphatic win, India also strengthened their status as the team to beat in the tournament, having combined relentless attacking pressure with effective penalty-corner execution against Pakistan.
