Historic win
WOMEN’S HOCKEY SIDE MISSES OUT ON TOP 8 SPOT
THE historic win by the Fiji women’s hockey team at their first ever appearance in the 2024 FIH Hockey 5s World Cup in Oman is a monumental moment for the team and for the country.
Trailing 1-0 at halftime, they showed incredible determination and resilience to come back and secure a 3-2 victory against the host team in their second pool match on Wednesday.
Last night, the side put up another great performance to secure a 4-all draw against Malaysia.
Despite the result, Fiji fell short of the quarterfinals as Malaysia had a better goal difference.
Hector Smith’s team finished third in Pool A.
The goals scored against Oman were from Lora Bukalidi, Tiara Dutta, and Divyankar Kumar in the second half were a testament to the team’s fighting spirit and never-give-up attitude.
Kumar expressed the emotional significance of the win, describing it as a proud and memorable moment for the team.
The victory will undoubtedly go down in the history books as a significant milestone for Fiji women’s hockey.
“We just told ourselves before the game that we are going to fight hard and fight for it,” Kumar said after the game.
“As we was trying to look for our first win, the spirit kept us going, just backing each other up.
“It is really a proud moment for us, it is really good to be part of the history.
“Thank you all for the support and for standing behind us always, supporting us during our wins or losses, always there.”
Meanwhile, Tiara Dutta was Fiji’s lone scorer during the team’s first match against world number one Netherlands.
Fiji showed great courage going down 14-1.
Senior player member Catherine
Fabiano said the team did really well going up against Netherlands, we didn’t have any expectations of ourselves in that game.
“We was just going out their and play our best, since they are the number one in the world,” said Fabiano.
“I feel like in the first six minutes was going well for us, we was playing light for light, and getting a chance to score a goal against Netherland is a huge achievement for our girls.” she added.