Women’s hockey: Rani scored on her return as India beat South Africa by 5. beat by 1
Cape Town. Rani Rampal made her return to the national team and scored a goal to help the Indian women’s hockey team beat South Africa 5-1 in the first Test of the four-match series. Rani, who returned to the team after playing against Belgium in the FIH Women’s Hockey Pro League 2021-22 in June last year, scored the first goal in the 12th minute. After this Monika (20th), Navneet Kaur (24th), Gurjeet Kaur (25th) and Sangeeta Kumari (30th) scored the goals. India had 5 by halftime. There was a gain of 0. Captain Kanita Bobbs scored the lone goal for South Africa in the 44th minute.
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The second match will be played on Tuesday night. Midfielder Vaishnavi Phalke, who captained the Indian junior team in the Unifer Under-23 Five Nations tournament last year, made her senior team debut. India started aggressively and took the lead in the first quarter itself when Rani converted a penalty corner. In the second quarter, the Indian team looked more dangerous and Monika scored in the 20th minute. Four minutes later, Navneet tripled India’s lead with a goal. A minute later, Gurjeet scored on a penalty stroke. Sangeeta scored just before half time.
