Indian eves beat Thailand 5-0, face Poland in HIL Women's Hockey World R2 final

New Delhi: Hosts India continued its winning spree and thrashed Thailand 5-0 to storm into the final of the Hero FIH Women's Hockey World League Round 2 at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, here on Saturday.

India, who had earlier defeated Thailand 6-0 in the pool stages, opened their account in the 11th minute from a penalty stroke which was successfully converted by Jaspreet Kaur.

Five minutes later, Sunita Lakra (16th) doubled India's lead by converting a penalty corner before Poonam Rani scored a field goal in the 22nd minute to make 3-0 in favour of the hosts.

Rani Rampal (40th) made it 4-0 in the third quarter with a field effort before Amandeep Kaur (53rd) struck another for India from a penalty corner.

India will face Poland in the summit clash tomorrow. India had earlier defeated Poland 2-0 in the pool stages.

Poland got the better of Malaysia by a solitary goal in the other semifinal to set up a class against the in-form home team.

Poland rode on Marlena Rybacha (3rd) early goal from a penalty corner conversion to register the win.

Poland coach Krzysztof Rachwalski warned India to take his side lightly in tomorrow's final.

"We have improved in the tournament with each game and the result is for everyone to see. We did well in the quarterfinals against Russia and today against Malaysia. We managed to score only one goal but it was enough for us to win the game. I think we are strong enough to face any opponent in the finals and it would be a very entertaining match to witness," he said.

Earlier in the fifth to eighth position classification matches, Kazakhstan defeated Singapore 2-1 in a close encounter while Russia spanked Ghana 7-1.

Kazakhstan will next play Russia in the fifth-sixth position play-off match, while Singapore and Ghana will play each other to avoid the wooden spoon.