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India wraps FIH Pro League with England bonus point
India in its last game against England played a goalless draw but recorded a close 3-2 win in the penalty shootout to avenge an earlier defeat
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Prabhjot Paul Singh - Mon, 29, Jun 2026
- 00:56 EDT
- 21
Indian hockey player / FIH/olympics.com
London has never been a happy hunting ground for hockey teams from the subcontinent. In the 1986 World Cup, India and Pakistan fought for the wooden cup game in which Pakistan won and India finished last.
By defeating the hosts England 3-2 in the penalty shootout after a goalless draw in the regulation period, India settled the scores with the home team to whom it had lost a similar penalty shootout match after a 2-2 draw in the regulation period.
Now when the third and final round of the FIH Pro League 2025-26 was drawn for London, India and Pakistan were again at the bottom. This time, India was slightly better placed while Pakistan touched its nadir.
Pakistan lost all its 16 games in the tournament conceding 79 goals while scoring only 22. Until a decade ago, Pakistan used to be the scoring machine as it would run big scores even against some of the world’s best teams. But now the wheel has come full circle. Pakistan has been conceding many more goals than it is scoring. In its last game against England, Pakistan lost 0-7. A day earlier, it lost 1-7 to its traditional rival and neighbour India. Very unlike Pakistan.
Though India performed slightly better to finish a notch above Pakistan in the tournament involving the elite of world hockey. India won four of its 16 matches to finish eighth in a tournament of nine teams. India lost seven and drew five others getting bonus points from penalty shootouts in two other drawn games to aggregate 19 points, the same as Spain did. Since Spain had a better goal difference, it took seventh place.
India in its last game against England played a goalless draw but recorded a close 3-2 win in the penalty shootout to avenge an earlier defeat. In the first game, India and England had played a 2-2 draw but, in that game, England had beaten India 4-1 in the penalty shootout. This time, India did tit for tat and won 3-2 to level the score.
England, despite losing the bonus point, was placed at number two position with 35 points, four points behind the ultimate champions Belgium. Belgium has a game against Australia in hand. Since its position is unbeatable for the top spot, it was crowned champions of this edition.
Though India had overtaken Spain after its last 7-1 win over Pakistan, Spain reversed the tables with a thumping 5-2 win over defending World Cup champions Germany to storm back to the seventh position.
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