"VAN" (Sports Desk - 21.06.2026) :: The FIH Hockey Women’s Nations Cup New Zealand 2026 came to an end with India completing a perfect tournament, defeating hosts New Zealand 2-0 in the final to claim the trophy and qualification to the next season of the FIH Hockey Pro League.
New Zealand won the silver medal in the competition, while USA, who defeated Chile in the third place playoff match earlier in the day won the bronze medal.
Here’s how the matches of the day played out...
France 3-0 Uruguay (7-8 Place)
France took on Uruguay in the battle to avoid the last place, however the stakes did not include relegation, with the expanded field for the upcoming editions of the FIH Nations Cup and Nations Cup 2. The first half was an even battle with both teams prodding but not finishing chances that were being created. France got an early goal from the stick of Emma van der Zanden, and while Uruguay had their moments, no more goals were added to the scoreboard in the first half.
Uruguay kept pressing, but once again it was France who found the goal first in the second half, with Marie-Alice Rimbert capitalising on a goal-mouth scramble following a saved penalty corner attempt to push the ball into the goal and double France’s lead. With the game blowing open as Uruguay pushed hard to get back in, France’s potent counter attack yielded the decisive penalty corner of the game, with Mathilde Duffrene scoring the first direct penalty corner of the tournament for France and putting the result beyond doubt.
For her stellar work in defence, going along with the match-sealing goal, Mathilde Duffrene was awarded player of the match and said: “It was really important to get this win, because we hadn’t won any games before this in the competition and the Nations Cup is a really important competition for us. We are also really happy with the progress we’ve made over the past year with the new coaching set-up and the young players.”
Japan 0-0 Korea (SO: 4-5) (5-6 Place)
Japan and Korea are known for their close battles in the Asian competitions and a match-up in the Nations Cup for the 5th place gave us another chapter in the same rivalry with two evenly matched technically strong teams pushing and prodding for the length of the match, but the defensive nous on both sides proving too strong for either attacks.
Korea edged the attacking stats for the match with 19 circle penetrations to 15 from Japan and even managed 7 penalty corners compared to 4 for their Asian rivals. But shooting sticks went missing for both sides as the teams had to head into a shoot-out to find the winner after regulation time ended 0-0.
The first five shoot-outs were not enough to separate the sides with both teams scoring 3 of their 5 attempts and the teams went into a sudden death scenario. Both teams scored their first attempts and missed their second. Japan missed their third attempt in the sudden death and Korea got theirs in with 0.1 second left on the clock to finally give Korea the win and the fifth position in the competition.
Jiyun Choi was awarded player of the match and said: “We played well together as a team today, so very proud that we got the result in the end.”
Chile 2-3 USA (Bronze Medal)
USA started the stronger of the two sides in the opening quarter, troubling the Chilean defence from the first whistle. They won the first penalty corner of the game in the tenth minute but Yeager saw her strong flick saved by Natalia Salvador. A minute later though Ashley Sessa put USA ahead from their second penalty corner of the game, injecting and then receiving a pass from the top of the circle and lifting a powerful shot over the onrushing Salvador. While the Americans kept pushing and looked most likely to score the next goal of the game, the goal actually came from the first Chilean penalty corner of the half, with Fernanda Arrieta letting one rip after an initial block by the defence. And with seconds left in the half, Chile won their second penalty corner of the game on a counter and scored a second goal through Maria Maldonado, to head into the half with an unlikely 2-1 lead, given the Americans’ dominance through the 30 minutes.
USA shrugged off the shock of being down after the half, and were back level soon after the start of the second half, with Hoffman thundering a powerful drag flick low to the right of Salvador. USA regained the lead early in the final quarter, with captain Sholder earning a penalty stroke and Ashley Sessa stepping up to score her second goal of the day. Both teams came close to scoring again, with Chile stepping up the pressure as minutes started ticking away. USA though held their fort strong in the back with crucial blocks coming from Hoffman, Sholder and keeper Rizzo, seeing them through to the final whistle, securing them a third place finish in the competition.
Maddie Zimmer was awarded player of the match and said: “It was a tricky game, Chile are a good opponent and especially for us, coming off that loss yesterday, but we showed a lot of character and turned up for each other, so I am really proud of that. We’ve got a lot of fast players on this team and we practice together loads to develop the chemistry we showcase on the pitch.”
India 2-0 New Zealand (Final)
Indian dominance and penalty corners was the story of the first half of the final. Navneet Kaur came up trumps in the fourth minute, scoring off India’s first penalty corner of the game. India continued pressing high, creating chances and capitalised on their fifth set piece of the opening quarter, with Sunelita Toppo deflecting in Deepika’s strong drag flick. India continued pressing for a third goal in the opening half, while New Zealand looked to break on counter attacks, but the half ended with the same scoreline as the opening quarter with India leading 2-0 against the hosts.
The third quarter was a cagey affair with New Zealand pressing the issue more, but India remaining resolute in defence, while looking dangerous on counter attacks. A similar pattern came about in the final quarter, with New Zealand pressing but not finding a way into the Indian defensive circle. They won their first penalty corner in the final quarter, but Kaitlin Cotter’s shot on goal was saved by Savita.
With 7 minutes left in the game Nikki Pradhan from India received a yellow card for an uncontrolled tackle and New Zealand pressed the advantage by taking off keeper O’Hanlon and adding an additional outfielder, but no matter what they threw at the Indian defence, it held steady and didn’t let the Black Sticks into their circle and as the final whistle blew, India came away winners with a 2-0 margin, having completed a perfect tournament with 5 wins in 5, securing qualification to the FIH Hockey Pro League for the next season.
Individual Awards
Player of the tournament: Ashley Sessa (USA)
Goalkeeper of the tournament: Grace O’Hanlon (NZL)
Hero Top Scorer: Ashley Sessa (USA) & Deepika (IND)
Young Player of the tournament: Riana Pho (NZL)
Final Standings
1 India
2 New Zealand
3 USA
4 Chile
5 Korea
6 Japan
7 France
8 Uruguay
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