India produced a dominant performance against Pakistan, registering a massive 19-0 victory in the Junior Women’s Asia Cup on Thursday to book their place in the semi-finals.
The Indian team had already made a strong start to the tournament, beating Japan, Malaysia and South Korea in their earlier group matches. The emphatic win over Pakistan completed a perfect run through the group stage and moved India two victories away from defending their title.
Pooja Sahu opened the scoring in the seventh minute, giving India an early lead and setting the tone for what turned into a one-sided contest. India continued to attack with intensity and went into half-time with a commanding 10-goal advantage.
Pakistan struggled to contain India’s attacking pressure as the Indian forwards continued to find openings. Pooja Malik was among the standout performers, completing a hat-trick during the match.
Supriya Malik and Purnima Yadav also made significant contributions, scoring twice each as India continued to extend their lead. The Indian side maintained its attacking momentum throughout the contest and eventually finished with 19 goals without conceding.
The result underlined India’s strength in the tournament and gave the defending champions another major boost ahead of the knockout stage.
India are now just two wins away from completing a hat-trick of Junior Asia Cup titles. Having won the previous two editions, the team will be aiming to maintain its impressive record and lift the trophy for a third consecutive time.
The emphatic victory over Pakistan also provides India with considerable confidence going into the semi-finals. After scoring freely in the group stage and producing a flawless defensive display against Pakistan, the defending champions will enter the knockout phase as one of the teams to beat.
With their title defence still on track, India will now turn their attention to the semi-final, where another strong performance could take them one step closer to making history.
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