Indian players had plenty to celebrate.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
An hour before pushback, China did India a massive favour by beating England 4-2. India seized the opening in Pool-D, by hammering South Africa, the lowest-ranked side in the World Cup, 6-1 to go top of the table on Tuesday.
It was a historic scoreline here at the Wagener Stadion for the Indian women as they registered their biggest World Cup win, thanks to six different goal-scorers. The result also propelled their goal difference to (+5). Sjoerd Marijne’s side now needs only a draw in its final pool game against England to ensure a spot in the second round.
India, however, made a sloppy start, with misplaced passes and mistraps, and was let off by South Africa on the turnovers.
Against the run of play, India opened the scoring, through Sunelita Toppo. The midfielder, who had a shot saved earlier, poked home Sakshi Rana’s pass after a failed attempt to clear it inside the circle.
India’s nerves seemed to settle with that goal as it found better rhythm with its passing and penetration. In the second quarter, as soon as India got its second penalty corner (PC), Navneet Kaur, who let Deepika have a crack for the first, signalled that it was her turn, and made it count.
Taking a touch away from the first rusher, she hammered her drag-flick onto the boards.
India’s front-foot approach yielded three more short corners in succession with defender Sushila Chanu getting her first goal since 2023 from a rebound.
In the third quarter, the Indians put on a clinic in finishing with three tomahawk efforts in the space of seven minutes. Deepika found the bottom corner before Lalremsiami, who was conferred the Arjuna Award earlier in the day, slotted in from a tight angle on the right side.
Sakshi, the youngest player in the squad at 18, capped off an excellent game by firing into the roof of the net. South Africa finished the game better, managing to get on the scoresheet from a well-worked PC with Kayla de Waal deflecting the ball in.
Needing a victory to progress, the Indian men’s team will be in action on Wednesday against Pakistan.
The result: India 6 (Sunelita 10, Navneet 16-pc, Sushila 24-pc, Deepika 37, Lalremsiami 43, Sakshi 44) bt South Africa 1 (de Waal 54-pc).
Published – August 18, 2026 09:45 pm IST
